Travelers' risk of malaria by destination country: a study from Japan

Country-specific information on the incidence of malaria in travelers provides the most reliable data on which to base the pre-travel risk assessment. Some such studies have been conducted among Western travelers; however, to our knowledge, there have been no reports on Japanese travelers.

Malaria cases that were diagnosed between April 1999 and December 2005 and were reported to the national infectious disease surveillance body were used as the numerators after grouped into countries of disease acquisition. The denominators, the numbers of Japanese travelers visiting individual countries were derived from the recipient countries and obtained through a Japanese organization.

In addition to the well-documented high risks in sub-Saharan countries, our study showed that travelers to Papua New Guinea were exposed to a significantly high risk of malaria. In Asia, Myanmar had the highest risk. Generally, malaria incidence rates among Japanese travelers were lower than those previously reported on Western travelers. However, the rates were rather comparable to the data obtained recently.

These malaria incidence data in travelers should be taken into consideration for pre-travel risk assessment. They need to be constantly updated, and at the same time, limitations in data interpretation that are inherent in various study methodologies should also be clarified.