Malaria Hyperendemicity and Risk for Artemisinin Resistance among Illegal Gold Miners, French Guiana

Abstract

To assess the prevalence of malaria among illegal gold miners in the French Guiana rainforest, we screened 205 miners during May–June 2014. Malaria prevalence was 48.3%; 48.5% of cases were asymptomatic. Patients reported self-medication with artemisinin-based combination therapy. Risk for emergence and spread of artemisinin resistance among gold miners in the rainforest is high.

Keywords

• malaria
• French Guiana
• illegal gold mining
• hyperendemicity
• epidemiology
• vector-borne infections