Prevalence and Outcome of Imported Adult Malaria Cases Admitted to a Tertiary Hospital in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates: A Five Year Study

Le résumé fourni par la source

Background: Malaria is a major public challenge. It’s estimated 247 million malaria cases worldwide in 2021, with death of almost 619000 cases. WHO data shows incidence of malaria in UAE over last 10 years as 0 per 1000 population at risk. Since UAE is a global country will have a risk of having cases of malaria from malaria-endemic countries and will have similar mortality and morbidity risks. Aim: This study aims to review prevalence and outcome of imported adult malaria cases admitted to tertiary hospital in UAE during last five years (2018-2022). Methods: It’s a retrospective review of imported adult malaria cases admitted to tertiary hospital in UAE during five years, the participants were a total of 83 cases. Result: 93.9% participants were between 18-60 years, with 6.1% older than 60 years. Majority were male (82.9%) and most common ethnicities Asian (56.1%) and African (41.5%). 61 % Participants underwent blood film while 39% underwent both malaria detection test and blood film. Plasmodium vivax was most common species (56.1%) and Plasmodium falciparum was found in 31.5%. Screening for HIV (15.9%) and G6PD (18.3%) which are representing small percentage of participants. During admission, 37.8% had Procalcitonin checked with 90.3% having a cut-off ≥ 0.5. Majority had non-severe malaria (93.1%), while 6.1% had severe malaria.4 out of 82 participants required ICU admission (4.9%), while (95.1%) did not. 53.7% of participants received antibiotics while 46.3% did not. 74.4% stayed in hospital for 0-5 days, 19.5% stayed for 6-10 days, while 6.1% only stayed for more than 10 days. Majority of participants were discharged from hospital 97.6% and 2.4% transferred to another facility. Conclusions: Majority of malaria cases in UAE are imported and predominantly affect adult males of Asian and African ethnicities. Although incidence of malaria in UAE is low, patients coming from malaria-endemic regions with similar morbidity and mortality risks can still be encountered. The prevalence of important adult malaria cases admitted to a tertiary hospital in Sharjah was not high in last 5 years, but mainly affect male travellers hailing from endemic countries. Plasmodium vivax was most common species although Plasmodium falciparum percentage was also significant. Outcome of cases was generally favourable, but some patient required ICU admission due to severe complication. This study highlighted importance of raising awareness, promoting preventive measures & strengthening surveillance and control measures including appropriate chemoprophylaxis to reduce burden of imported malaria in non-endemic areas.

Ce résumé expose les affirmations des auteurs. BNTIC ne l’interprète pas comme une validation indépendante des résultats.