Imported Malaria: Experience Of Avicenne Military Hospital of Marrakech-Morocco.

Mohammed Sbaai1; ZakariaChahbi2, Said Kaddouri2, Hassan Qacif2, Mohammed Zayani2, El moustafa El mezouari1, RedouaneMoutaj1
Page No. 15-25

Although malaria was eradicated in Morocco since 2005, it remains a concern for health authorities. Indeed, cases of malaria called "imported" are still observed and may involve life-threatening situations. This concerns travelers in general, and the military in particular from non-endemic countries and traveling to tropical regions. We tried through a series of 260 cases of imported malaria hospitalized in internal medicine and intensive care unit and external cases diagnosed in parasitology department of the military hospital of Marrakech between January 2002 and December 2016, to analyze the epidemiological, diagnostic, preventive and therapeutic characteristics of this parasitic disease and to review the latest national and international recommendations. It is about 218 soldiers and 42 civilians, predominantly male in 99.23%, with mean age of 32.65 years (20-60). The cases were imported especially from Ivory Coast (63.10%) and Democratic Republic of Congo (22.31%). Plasmodium falciparum was the most frequent parasite (46.92%) followed by Plasmodium ovale (34.23%). The severe malaria episodes were diagnosed in 5.39% of access (14 cases) with three evolving towards death. Given the current context of Morocco, its malariogenic power and the incessant number of cases of imported malaria, it is necessary to update the treatment protocols ensuring rapid and effective therapeutic care and anticipate the risk of re-emergence by the implementation prevention strategies based on chemoprophylaxis adapted according to the visited countries and raising awareness of travelers to strictly observe the prophylactic measures.
Keywords : Imported malaria ; Plasmodium falciparum;Diagnosis-Cerebral malaria-chemoprophylaxis-Morocco