Mediterranean Journal of Hematology and Infectious Diseases (Sep 2018)

EPIDEMIOLOGY OF MALARIA IN THE STATE OF QATAR, 2008-2015

  • Elmoubasher Farag,
  • Devendra Bansal,
  • Mohamad Abdul Halim Chehab,
  • Ayman Al-Dahshan,
  • Mohamed Bala,
  • Nandakumar Ganesan,
  • Yosuf Abdulla Al Abdulla,
  • Mohammed Al Thani,
  • Ali H. Sultan,
  • Hamad Al-Romaihi

DOI
https://doi.org/10.4084/mjhid.2018.050
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 10, no. 1
pp. e2018050 – e2018050

Abstract

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Background and Objectives Imported malaria poses a serious public health problem in Qatar because its population is “naïve” to such infection; where local transmission might lead to serious life-threatening infection and might even trigger epidemics. Methods This study is a retrospective review of the imported malaria cases in Qatar reported by the malaria surveillance program at the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH), during the period between January 2008 and December 2015. All cases were imported and underwent parasitological confirmation through microscopy. Results A total of 4092 malaria cases were reported during 2008-2015 in Qatar. The demographic features of the imported cases show that the majority of cases were males (93%), non-Qatari(99.6%), and aged 15 to 44 years(82.1%). Moreover, P. vivax was found to be the main etiologic agent accounting for more than three-quarters (78.7%) of the imported cases. In addition, almost a third (33.1%) of the cases were reported during the months of July, August, and September. Conclusions Imported malaria in Qatar has witnessed an increase during the past 7 years, despite a long period of constant reduction; where the people most affected were adult male migrants from endemic countries. Many challenges need to be overcome to prevent the reintroduction of malaria into the country.

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