Import of malaria in a Romanian Western County.
BACKGROUND
Malaria is not a serious concern in Romania nowadays although 30-60 imported cases are diagnosed yearly, especially in travellers from Africa. Timis, the most extensive of the Romanian counties, is the western gate of the country from where a lot of people travel abroad. The aim of this study is to overview all the imported cases of malaria diagnosed in our county and to describe two recent severe cases.


METHODS
We retrospectively analyzed both the medical records of 28 malaria patients treated between 1974 and 2007 at Victor Babes Hospital of Infectious Disease from Timisoara, Romania, and the results of 6 blood examinations performed in the last decade in the parasitological laboratory of Victor Babes University of Medicine and Pharmacy from Timisoara. A comparison between the two recent severe cases was made, emphasizing on the clinical aspects, complications and the laboratory test results.


RESULTS
Most of the patients (55.38%) were in the age group of 20-29 years; 85.71% of the patients were males; Plasmodium falciparum was found in 75% of the cases.


CONCLUSIONS
Findings of our study have shown that P. falciparum is the main malaria species in Timis County, outlining the difficulties in the diagnosis and management of the imported cases.
Department of Parasitology, Victor Babes University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 2nd Eftimie Murgu Square 300041, Timisoara, Romania. raul.neghina@gmail.com
Raul
R
Neghina
Adriana-Maria
AM
Neghina
Laura Diana
LD
Giurgiu
Iosif
I
Marincu
Ioan
I
Iacobiciu
D000328:Adult; D000349:Africa; D000818:Animals; D001769:Blood / Q000469:parasitology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016778:Malaria, Falciparum / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000469:parasitology / Q000503:physiopathology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D018512:Parasitemia / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000469:parasitology; D010963:Plasmodium falciparum / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D012383:Romania / Q000453:epidemiology; D014195:Travel