Commentary
Malaria prophylaxis policy for travellers from Europe to the Indian Sub Continent
1 Hospital for Tropical Diseases & London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London, UK
2 Centro per le Malattie Tropicali, Ospedale S. Cuore, Negrar Verona, Italy
3 Department of Medicine, Unit of Infectious Diseases, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden
4 Centre de Salut Internacional, Hospital Clinic, IDIBAPS, Barcelona, Spain
5 Swiss Tropical Institute, Basel, Switzerland
6 Centre National de Référence pour le Paludisme d'Importation et Autochtone, France
7 Institute of Tropical Medicine, Berlin, Germany
8 The Gade Institute, Haukeland University Hospital, Bergen, Norway
Malaria Journal 2006, 5:7 doi:10.1186/1475-2875-5-7
Published: 1 February 2006Abstract
Analysis of malaria imported into eight European countries from the Indian sub-continent (ISC) (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka) led to a consensus statement on the use of chemoprophylaxis within TropNetEurop. The proportion of cases from the ISC in 2004 ranged from 1.4%–4.6% of total imported cases. Plasmodium falciparum cases reported from the eight countries was only 23 (13% of all cases from the region). Total malaria reports between 1999–2004 fell from 317 to 180. The risk of malaria in UK residents visiting the region was > 1 case per 1,000 years exposed. The group recommended non-selective prescribing of chemoprophylaxis for visitors to India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka should be dropped.
