Malaria and other febrile diseases among travellers: the experience of a reference centre located outside the Brazilian Amazon Region
Abstract Background Malaria is endemic in countries located in tropical and sub-tropical regions. The increasing flow of domestic and international travellers has made malaria a relevant health problem even in non-endemic regions. Malaria has been described as the main diagnosis among travellers pre...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:b2889eba9f01481f9ab8be868647b3a4 2023-05-15T15:18:38+02:00 Malaria and other febrile diseases among travellers: the experience of a reference centre located outside the Brazilian Amazon Region Andréa Beltrami Dotrário Lucas José Bazzo Menon Valdes Roberto Bollela Roberto Martinez Daniel Cardoso de Almeida e Araújo Benedito Antônio Lopes da Fonseca Rodrigo de C. Santana 2016-05-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.1186/s12936-016-1347-x https://doaj.org/article/b2889eba9f01481f9ab8be868647b3a4 EN eng BMC http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12936-016-1347-x https://doaj.org/toc/1475-2875 doi:10.1186/s12936-016-1347-x 1475-2875 https://doaj.org/article/b2889eba9f01481f9ab8be868647b3a4 Malaria Journal, Vol 15, Iss 1, Pp 1-11 (2016) Malaria Diagnosis Acute febrile illness Brazilian Amazon Plasmodium falciparum Plasmodium vivax Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Infectious and parasitic diseases RC109-216 article 2016 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.1186/s12936-016-1347-x 2022-12-31T04:00:20Z Abstract Background Malaria is endemic in countries located in tropical and sub-tropical regions. The increasing flow of domestic and international travellers has made malaria a relevant health problem even in non-endemic regions. Malaria has been described as the main diagnosis among travellers presenting febrile diseases after returning from tropical countries. In Brazil, malaria transmission occurs mainly in the Amazon region. Outside this area, malaria transmission is of low magnitude. Methods This cross-sectional study aimed to describe the experience in the diagnosis of malaria in a reference centre located outside the Brazilian Amazon Region, emphasizing the differences in clinical and laboratory markers between cases of malaria and those of other febrile diseases (OFD). Medical charts from adult patients (≥18 years) who underwent a thick smear test (TST) for malaria, between January 2001 and December 2014, were retrospectively reviewed. Results A total of 458 cases referred to perform the TST were included. Malaria was diagnosed in 193 (42 %) episodes. The remaining 265 episodes (58 %) were grouped as OFD. The majority of malaria episodes were acquired in the Brazilian Amazon Region. The median time between the onset of symptoms and the TST was 7 days. Only 53 (11.5 %) episodes were tested within the first 48 h after symptom onset. Comparing malaria with OFD, jaundice, nausea, vomiting, and reports of fever were more prevalent in the malaria group. Low platelet count and elevated bilirubin levels were also related to the diagnosis of malaria. Conclusions The results indicate that outside the endemic area travellers presenting febrile disease suspected of being malaria underwent diagnostic test after considerable delay. The reporting of fever combined with a recent visit to an endemic area should promptly evoke the hypothesis of malaria. In these cases, specific diagnostic tests for malaria should be a priority. For cases that jump this step, the presence of elevated bilirubin or thrombocytopaenia should ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Arctic Malaria Journal 15 1 |
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ftdoajarticles |
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English |
topic |
Malaria Diagnosis Acute febrile illness Brazilian Amazon Plasmodium falciparum Plasmodium vivax Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Infectious and parasitic diseases RC109-216 |
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Malaria Diagnosis Acute febrile illness Brazilian Amazon Plasmodium falciparum Plasmodium vivax Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Infectious and parasitic diseases RC109-216 Andréa Beltrami Dotrário Lucas José Bazzo Menon Valdes Roberto Bollela Roberto Martinez Daniel Cardoso de Almeida e Araújo Benedito Antônio Lopes da Fonseca Rodrigo de C. Santana Malaria and other febrile diseases among travellers: the experience of a reference centre located outside the Brazilian Amazon Region |
topic_facet |
Malaria Diagnosis Acute febrile illness Brazilian Amazon Plasmodium falciparum Plasmodium vivax Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Infectious and parasitic diseases RC109-216 |
description |
Abstract Background Malaria is endemic in countries located in tropical and sub-tropical regions. The increasing flow of domestic and international travellers has made malaria a relevant health problem even in non-endemic regions. Malaria has been described as the main diagnosis among travellers presenting febrile diseases after returning from tropical countries. In Brazil, malaria transmission occurs mainly in the Amazon region. Outside this area, malaria transmission is of low magnitude. Methods This cross-sectional study aimed to describe the experience in the diagnosis of malaria in a reference centre located outside the Brazilian Amazon Region, emphasizing the differences in clinical and laboratory markers between cases of malaria and those of other febrile diseases (OFD). Medical charts from adult patients (≥18 years) who underwent a thick smear test (TST) for malaria, between January 2001 and December 2014, were retrospectively reviewed. Results A total of 458 cases referred to perform the TST were included. Malaria was diagnosed in 193 (42 %) episodes. The remaining 265 episodes (58 %) were grouped as OFD. The majority of malaria episodes were acquired in the Brazilian Amazon Region. The median time between the onset of symptoms and the TST was 7 days. Only 53 (11.5 %) episodes were tested within the first 48 h after symptom onset. Comparing malaria with OFD, jaundice, nausea, vomiting, and reports of fever were more prevalent in the malaria group. Low platelet count and elevated bilirubin levels were also related to the diagnosis of malaria. Conclusions The results indicate that outside the endemic area travellers presenting febrile disease suspected of being malaria underwent diagnostic test after considerable delay. The reporting of fever combined with a recent visit to an endemic area should promptly evoke the hypothesis of malaria. In these cases, specific diagnostic tests for malaria should be a priority. For cases that jump this step, the presence of elevated bilirubin or thrombocytopaenia should ... |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Andréa Beltrami Dotrário Lucas José Bazzo Menon Valdes Roberto Bollela Roberto Martinez Daniel Cardoso de Almeida e Araújo Benedito Antônio Lopes da Fonseca Rodrigo de C. Santana |
author_facet |
Andréa Beltrami Dotrário Lucas José Bazzo Menon Valdes Roberto Bollela Roberto Martinez Daniel Cardoso de Almeida e Araújo Benedito Antônio Lopes da Fonseca Rodrigo de C. Santana |
author_sort |
Andréa Beltrami Dotrário |
title |
Malaria and other febrile diseases among travellers: the experience of a reference centre located outside the Brazilian Amazon Region |
title_short |
Malaria and other febrile diseases among travellers: the experience of a reference centre located outside the Brazilian Amazon Region |
title_full |
Malaria and other febrile diseases among travellers: the experience of a reference centre located outside the Brazilian Amazon Region |
title_fullStr |
Malaria and other febrile diseases among travellers: the experience of a reference centre located outside the Brazilian Amazon Region |
title_full_unstemmed |
Malaria and other febrile diseases among travellers: the experience of a reference centre located outside the Brazilian Amazon Region |
title_sort |
malaria and other febrile diseases among travellers: the experience of a reference centre located outside the brazilian amazon region |
publisher |
BMC |
publishDate |
2016 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12936-016-1347-x https://doaj.org/article/b2889eba9f01481f9ab8be868647b3a4 |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic |
genre_facet |
Arctic |
op_source |
Malaria Journal, Vol 15, Iss 1, Pp 1-11 (2016) |
op_relation |
http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12936-016-1347-x https://doaj.org/toc/1475-2875 doi:10.1186/s12936-016-1347-x 1475-2875 https://doaj.org/article/b2889eba9f01481f9ab8be868647b3a4 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12936-016-1347-x |
container_title |
Malaria Journal |
container_volume |
15 |
container_issue |
1 |
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1766348834191966208 |