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Another Risk to US Travelers—Malaria

Clinician Reviews. 2014 November;24(11):E1-E7

Author(s):

To individualize preventive measures, rely on reported risk data for specific destinations, planned activities, and patient comorbidities.

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References

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PRACTICE RECOMMENDATIONS

› Assess the need for nonpharmacologic, behavioral interventions and for chemoprophylaxis based on a destination’s relative risk to travelers, planned and potential activities, and patient comorbidities. B
› Choose an antimalarial medication based on knowledge of area-specific drug effectiveness or resistance patterns, trip duration, drug cost, tolerance for adverse effects, and comorbidities. C
› Presume a diagnosis of malaria until proven otherwise in any traveler who is febrile after returning from a malaria-endemic region. C

Strength of recommendation (SOR)

A Good-quality patient-oriented evidence
B Inconsistent or limited-quality patient-oriented evidence
C Consensus, usual practice, opinion, disease-oriented evidence, case series

Although malaria was eradicated as an endemic disease in the United States in the early 1950s,¹it still returns yearly in approximately 1500 individuals who travel to foreign countries²—most of whom neglected to use prophylactic measures or use them properly.³In more than 60 documented cases, these infected individuals have been the source of local transmission in their communities.²To reduce the individual and public health risks associated with malaria, this article focuses on steps that international travelers can take to limit their risk of the disease.

WHAT TRAVELERS NEED TO KNOW
In 2013, more than 61.5 million residents of the United States traveled abroad, approximately 30% of whom visited malaria-endemic regions: Mexico and equatorial nations in Central and South America; Africa; the Middle East; and South, East, and Southeast Asia.⁴Counseling on appropriate preventive measures fits the Medical Home concept of comprehensive, preventive, patient-centered care, and pre-travel consultation—including a review of health data and itineraries, and patient education—can be a team-based effort.⁵

Begin your planning for malaria prophylaxis by assessing your patient’s individual risk. Key variables are a patient’s detailed itinerary, a credible and current source of information on location-specific malaria prevalence, personal risk factors, and risk tolerance. Shared decision-making is vital and enhances adherence to the prescribed regimen.

Endemicity varies regionally. Without chemoprophylaxis, risk of infection ranges from more than 20% in Papua New Guinea to 0.01% in Central America, with wide exposure risk variations likely, even within regions.⁶Travel to areas of high endemicity requires more aggressive malaria prevention strategies than travel to low-endemicity regions.

Risk of exposure is lower with short visits,⁷business-only travel, urban-only stays in some countries, day trips to endemic areas,⁷and travel during seasons with lower mosquito burden. Likewise, travelers staying in a hotel with sealed windows will face lower nighttime Anopheles mosquito exposure. In these cases, nonpharmacologic measures alone may be appropriate.

Those at particularly high risk for complicated or lethal malarial infection are children, pregnant women, elderly individuals, and immunocompromised patients.⁷Assess risk by reviewing a traveler’s itinerary and considering location-specific malaria prevalence, personal risk factors such as comorbidities, and risk tolerance.In addition to counseling high-risk patients about prophylactic measures, consider advising against travel in certain circumstances. Among those at highest risk for acquiring malaria are immigrants and refugees traveling to their ancestral homelands to visit friends and relatives (VFR).²Many VFR travelers fail to take appropriate prophylactic measures when “going home.”⁸A significant number of cases of travel-acquired malaria occurs in VFR children.⁹

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