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. 2014 Aug 4:13:298.
doi: 10.1186/1475-2875-13-298.

Risk factors for UK Plasmodium falciparum cases

Amy Pinsent, Jonathan M Read, Jamie T Griffin, Valerie Smith, Peter W Gething, Azra C Ghani, Geoffrey Pasvol, T Déirdre Hollingsworth  1
Affiliations

Risk factors for UK Plasmodium falciparum cases

Amy Pinsent et al. Malar J. .

Abstract

Background: An increasing proportion of malaria cases diagnosed in UK residents with a history of travel to malaria endemic areas are due to Plasmodium falciparum.

Methods: In order to identify travellers at most risk of acquiring malaria a proportional hazards model was used to estimate the risk of acquiring malaria stratified by purpose of travel and age whilst adjusting for entomological inoculation rate (EIR) and duration of stay in endemic countries.

Results: Travellers visiting friends and relatives and business travellers were found to have significantly higher hazard of acquiring malaria (adjusted hazard ratio (HR) relative to that of holiday makers 7.4, 95% CI 6.4-8.5, p < 0. 0001 and HR 3.4, 95% CI 2.9-3.8, p < 0. 0001, respectively). All age-groups were at lower risk than children aged 0-15 years.

Conclusions: These estimates of the increased risk for business travellers and those visiting friends and relatives should be used to inform programmes to improve awareness of the risks of malaria when travelling.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Maps of the country of origin of P. falciparum cases amongst UK residents travelling to malaria endemic areas in 2007, number of UK residents travelling to each malaria-endemic country and the estimated entomological infection rate for each malaria-endemic country. (A) The number of cases imported to the UK in 2007 by country of reported travel exposure. (B) The number of UK residents travelling to malaria-endemic areas in 2007 [1]. White areas are those that are considered non-endemic. (C) Estimated entomological infection rate (EIR, in units of infectious bites per person per year) for each malaria-endemic country.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Crude incidence per 10,000 travellers stratified by (A) reason for travel, (B) age group and (C) EIR in country of travel.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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