A Case of Severe Falciparum Malaria in a Returned Traveler

Abstract

Primary care providers should be alert to travel-related infections. Around 10-40% of returning travelers from all destinations and 15-70% of travelers from tropical settings experience ill health, either overseas or upon returning home.¹ A systematic approach concentrating on possible infections should be undertaken based on the patient's travel location, immunization history, presence of malaria chemoprophylaxis at the destination, other potential exposures, incubation period, and clinical presentation.^2-3 The World Health Organization (WHO) website is constantly being updated on specific travel-related infections and recent geographical outbreaks. In this paper, we report a case of severe falciparum malaria in a returned traveler.

Keywords: Cerebral malaria; fever; plasmodium falciparum; traveler.

Figure 1. Panel A & B: Brain computed tomography showed preserved grey-white matter differentiations with no effacement of the cerebral sulci and no evidence of white matter edema or hydrocephalus. Panel C & D: Blood film for malaria parasite (thin film) confirmed the presence of Plasmodium falciparum rings (red arrows) in the erythrocytes. A low magnification (10x or 20x objective lens) was used.