Imported malaria at Buraidah Central Hospital, Qassim, Saudi Arabia: a retrospective analysis
Imad R Musa1, Gasim I Gasim2, Amin O Eltoum1
1Buraiadah Central Hospital, Qassim, Saudi Arabia.
Background:
Malaria is a major threat to global health and it is a widespread throughout tropical and subtropical countries with an increasing risk to travellers.
Methods:
A retrospective analysis was conducted to investigate the epidemiology of imported malaria at Buraidah in Qassim region, Saudi Arabia during the period of January 2010 through April 2013.
Results:
There were 46 imported malaria cases. These cases were Plasmodium vivax (89.1%), Plasmodium falciparum (0.02%) and were mixed in 4 cases. Their age range between 14 and 54 and the mean was 29.7 years. Around three quarter (71.2%) of the patients were males. Most of the patients were Indian (54.3%) and Pakistani (23.9%). Over half (54.3%) of the patients had severe malaria, mainly severe anaemia, jaundice and hypotension. There was no mortality among the patients.
Conclusions:
Most of the detected malaria cases in this setting were among expatriates, particularly from the Indian subcontinent, while the predominant species was P. vivax. More than 50% of the cases presented with severe malaria.
