Casuccio Alessandra, D'Angelo Claudio, Casuccio Nicolò, Di Carlo Paola, Immordino Palmira
Dipartimento di Scienze per la Promozione della Salute e Materno-Infantile "G. D'Alessandro", Università di Palermo, Palermo, Italy. Email:
Ann Ist Super Sanita. 2014;50(4):369-74. doi: 10.4415/ANN_14_04_13.
Although Italy has been malaria-free since 1970, the infection is commonly introduced into the country by travelers and immigrants from endemic areas. The term VFRs refers to immigrants from malaria-endemic countries who are regularly resident in a malaria-free area, and who travel to their countries of origin to visit friends and relatives (VFRs). This group is at special risk of malaria as they are unaware of having lost their transitory immunity to the disease.
We conducted a retrospective study at the International Travelers Department of Palermo (Italy), examining records of malaria cases (67) reported over the period from 1998 to 2013.
VFRs represent the highest number of cases (77.6%), followed by workers (16.4%) and tourists (6.0%). All female patients and patients under the age of 18 were VFRs. Plasmodium falciparum was the most frequently-identified species. In all cases, chemoprophylaxis was not taken or was incomplete.
VFRs are at high risk of contracting malaria. This is probably related to an inequality in health care available to immigrants, as well as to ethnic and cultural conditions.
尽管意大利自1970年起已无疟疾，但感染通常由来自流行地区的旅行者和移民带入该国。术语“探亲访友者”指的是来自疟疾流行国家、长期居住在无疟疾地区、前往其原籍国探亲访友的移民。这类人群面临着特殊的疟疾风险，因为他们并未意识到自己已失去对该疾病的短暂免疫力。
我们在意大利巴勒莫国际旅行者部门开展了一项回顾性研究，调查了1998年至2013年期间报告的67例疟疾病例记录。
探亲访友者的病例数最多（77.6%），其次是务工人员（16.4%）和游客（6.0%）。所有女性患者和18岁以下患者均为探亲访友者。恶性疟原虫是最常发现的种类。在所有病例中，均未采取化学预防措施或措施不完整。
探亲访友者感染疟疾的风险很高。这可能与移民可获得的医疗保健不平等以及种族和文化状况有关。
