Operative Unit of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, San Giuseppe Moscati Hospital, Taranto, Italy.
Department of Biomedical Science and Human Oncology, Hospital-University Polyclinic, University of Bari, Bari, Italy.
Vector Borne Zoonotic Dis. 2020 Dec;20(12):927-931. doi: 10.1089/vbz.2019.2607. Epub 2020 Aug 20.
Italy was declared malaria free by the World Health Organization in 1970. Despite this, nonimport malaria cases are on the increase in Italy and throughout the Mediterranean area. In Italy, in the period between 2011 and 2015, seven cases of locally acquired malaria have been reported, including one introduced case of ; moreover, the last certain case of introduced malaria (by has been reported in Tuscany in 1997. No case of introduced malaria from has been reported in Italy since 1970. A cluster of four cryptic malaria cases were ascertained in migrant farm workers (three from Morocco and one from Sudan) in Apulia (southern Italy) with clinical onset between September 20 and 27, 2017. None of the patients reported a history of a recent trip to malaria-endemic areas or hospitalization or other risk factors. Typing of malaria was also confirmed using molecular biology methods in two different laboratories. There were no cases of severe malaria in our four patients, and only one in need of transfusion. All patients were discharged cured after being treated with mefloquine due to the unavailability of other antimalarials. In recent years, numerous reports of locally acquired malaria have been made in southern Europe. The cases described in this article represent the first cluster of malaria caused by in Europe. Today, clinical presentation in the diagnosis of malaria is more important than ever, since epidemiological criterion cannot be considered unfailing. The mode of transmission has not been proven and further biological and entomological studies are necessary to define our case as cryptic or confirm the presence of mosquitoes capable of transmitting and/or the capacity of , , or to transmit it on Italian territory.
意大利于 1970 年被世界卫生组织宣布无疟疾。尽管如此，意大利和整个地中海地区的非输入性疟疾病例仍在增加。在意大利，2011 年至 2015 年期间报告了 7 例本地获得性疟疾病例，包括 1 例输入性病例；此外，最后一例明确的输入性疟疾病例（由 引起）于 1997 年在托斯卡纳报告。自 1970 年以来，意大利没有报告过来自 的输入性疟疾病例。在意大利南部普利亚，2017 年 9 月 20 日至 27 日期间，四名移民农场工人（三名来自摩洛哥，一名来自苏丹）中确定了四例隐性 疟疾病例。四名患者均无近期前往疟疾流行地区的旅行史、住院史或其他危险因素。在两家不同的实验室，使用分子生物学方法也证实了疟疾的分型。我们的四名患者中没有严重疟疾病例，只有一名需要输血。由于无法获得其他抗疟药物，所有患者均用甲氟喹治愈出院。近年来，在南欧有许多本地获得性疟疾的报告。本文描述的病例代表了欧洲首例由 引起的疟疾集群。如今，在疟疾诊断中，临床表现比以往任何时候都更为重要，因为流行病学标准不能被认为是万无一失的。传播模式尚未得到证实，需要进一步进行生物和昆虫学研究，以确定我们的病例是隐性的，还是证实存在能够传播 以及/或 、 或 有能力在意大利传播 的蚊子。
