Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2020 Jul 14;27(4):taaa074.
doi: 10.1093/jtm/taaa074.

Malaria in the pregnant traveler

Kimberly L McKinney  1   2 , Henry M Wu  3 , Kathrine R Tan  4 , Julie R Gutman  4
Affiliations

Malaria in the pregnant traveler

Kimberly L McKinney et al. J Travel Med. .

Abstract

Pregnant travelers face numerous risks, notably increased susceptibility to or severity of multiple infections, including malaria. Because pregnant women residing in areas non-endemic for malaria are unlikely to have protective immunity, travel to endemic areas poses risk of severe illness and pregnancy complications, such as low birthweight and fetal loss. If travel to malaria-endemic areas cannot be avoided, preventive measures are critical. However, malaria chemoprophylaxis in pregnancy can be challenging, since commonly used regimens have varying levels of safety data and national guidelines differ. Furthermore, although chloroquine and mefloquine have wide acceptance for use in pregnancy, regional malaria resistance and non-pregnancy contraindications limit their use. Mosquito repellents, including N,N-diethyl-m-toluamide (DEET) and permethrin treatment of clothing, are considered safe in pregnancy and important to prevent malaria as well as other arthropod-borne infections such as Zika virus infection. Pregnant travelers at risk for malaria exposure should be advised to seek medical attention immediately if any symptoms of illness, particularly fever, develop.

Keywords: Insect repellent; Malarone; atovaquone-proguanil; doxycycline; mefloquine; primaquine; tafenoquine.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest

The authors have declared no conflicts of interest.

References

    1. Tan KR, Arguin PM. Malaria. In: Brunette GW, Nemhauser JB (eds). CDC Yellow Book 2020. New York: Oxford University Press, 2019, pp. 267–87.
    1. World Health Organization. World Malaria Report 2019. Geneva, Switzerland: World Health Organization, 2019.
    1. Dellicour S, Tatem AJ, Guerra CA et al. Quantifying the number of pregnancies at risk of malaria in 2007: a demographic study. PLoS Med 2010; 7:e1000221. Epub 2010/02/04. doi: 10.1371/journal.pmed.1000221 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Desai M, ter Kuile FO, Nosten F et al. Epidemiology and burden of malaria in pregnancy. Lancet Infect Dis 2007; 7:93–104. doi: 10.1016/S1473-3099(07)70021-X - DOI - PubMed
    1. Moore KA, Simpson JA, Scoullar MJL et al. Quantification of the association between malaria in pregnancy and stillbirth: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Lancet Glob Health 2017; 5:e1101–12. doi: 10.1016/S2214-109X(17)30340-6 - DOI - PubMed