Rate of malarial infection among foreigners in a tertiary hospital of Thailand : change of epidemiology and importance of travel medicine (1996–2005)

• Main Author: Viroj Wiwanitkit
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications 2007-09-01
• Series: Journal of Vector Borne Diseases
• Subjects: Foreigner – malaria – tertiary hospital – Thailand
• Online Access: http://www.mrcindia.org/journal/issues/443219.pdf

Background & objectives: Malaria is still an important infectious disease in Thailand. The study ofthe incidence of malaria can provide useful data for disease prevention and control. At present, tradeand travel can impact on vector-borne diseases, including malaria. Transmission of malaria from anendemic to a non-endemic area can be expected and this can affect the pattern of malaria epidemiology.Methods: Analysis of rate of malarial infection among foreigners in a tertiary hospital of Thailand inthe past decade (1996–2005) was carried out by scrutinising the available published and unpublishedreports.Results: According to this study, two main groups of travellers, the migrant workers from the nearbycountries, who bring malaria from the endemic area in their countries and the naïve cases as thetravellers from the western countries, who expose to malaria during their travelling in Thailand, canbe identified.Conclusion: Change of epidemiology due to high rate of infection in non-Thai patients and importanceof travel on the epidemiology of malaria can be seen from this study.