Faculty of Medicine, Department of Parasitology, Celal Bayar University, Uncubozkoy Mevkii, 45030 Manisa, Turkey.
Acta Trop. 2011 Oct-Nov;120(1-2):15-23. doi: 10.1016/j.actatropica.2011.06.011. Epub 2011 Jul 14.
Turkey is located in the middle of Asia, Africa and Europe, close to Caucasia, Balkans and Middle East in subtropical climate zone. Malaria has been known since the early ages of human history and it was one of the leading diseases in Anatolian history, as well. Today, chloroquine-sensitive Plasmodium vivax is the only agent of autochthonous malaria cases in Turkey. The other Plasmodium species identified are isolated from imported cases of malaria. The most common vector of malaria in Turkey is Anopheles sacharovi followed by An. superpictus, An. maculipennis and An. subalpinus. In 2009, pre-elimination stage of Malaria Program was started due to dramatic decline in the number of malaria cases in Turkey (Total, 84; 38 autochthonous cases only in 26 foci in south-eastern Anatolia, and 46 imported cases; incidence: 0.1/100,000). As there were no detected cases of new autochthonous malaria in the first 8 months of 2010, elimination stage was started. The role of the persistent policies and successful applications of the Ministry of Health, such as the strict control of the patients using anti-malarial drugs especially chloroquine, avoidance of resistant insecticides, facilitation of access to patients via Health Transformation Program (HTP), establishment of close contact with the patients' families, and improvement of reporting and surveillance system, was essential. In addition, improvement maintained in the motivations and professional rights of malaria workers, as well in the coordination of field studies and maintenance of a decline or termination in vector-to-person transmission were all achieved with the insistent policies of the Ministry of Health. Other factors that probably contributed to elimination studies include lessening of military operations in south-eastern Anatolia and the lowering of malaria cases in neighbouring countries in recent years. Free access to health services concerning malaria is still successfully conducted throughout the country.
土耳其地处亚洲、非洲和欧洲的交汇处，属于亚热带气候，临近高加索地区、巴尔干半岛和中东地区。人类历史早期就已经发现疟疾，它也是安纳托利亚历史上的主要疾病之一。目前，土耳其仅有对氯喹敏感的间日疟原虫引起本地疟疾病例。其他疟原虫均为输入性疟疾病例。土耳其最常见的疟疾传播媒介是致倦库蚊，其次是带纹按蚊、仁川按蚊和阿勒泰按蚊。2009 年，由于土耳其疟疾病例数量急剧下降（总数 84 例，仅在东南部 26 个疫区就有 38 例本地疟疾病例和 46 例输入性疟疾病例；发病率为 0.1/10 万），启动了消除疟疾计划的前消除阶段。由于 2010 年前 8 个月未发现新的本地疟疾病例，消除阶段开始。卫生部持续的政策和成功的应用发挥了重要作用，如严格控制抗疟药物（特别是氯喹）的使用、避免使用耐药杀虫剂、通过卫生转型计划（HTP）为患者提供便利、与患者家庭保持密切联系、以及改善报告和监测系统。此外，通过卫生部的坚持政策，疟疾工作人员的积极性和专业权利得到了提高，野外研究的协调得以维持，病媒向人类传播的减少或终止得以保持。消除研究的其他因素可能还包括东南部地区军事行动的减少以及近年来邻国疟疾病例的减少。全国范围内仍在成功地提供疟疾相关的免费医疗服务。
