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Microorganisms
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Malaria in Non-Endemic Areas: Diagnosis, Therapy and Epidemiology
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Malaria in Non-Endemic Areas: Diagnosis, Therapy and Epidemiology

A special issue of Microorganisms (ISSN 2076-2607). This special issue belongs to the section "Parasitology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 March 2021) | Viewed by 16093

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Adriana Calderaro

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Medicine and Surgery, University of Parma, 43126 Parma, Italy
Interests: virology; parasitology; bacteria; molecular diagnosisl MALDI-ToF mass spectrometry
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

At a time when attention is directed towards a serious health emergency, malaria continues to claim victims. In non-endemic areas, malaria is generally an imported disease that must be taken into account in differential diagnoses in travellers presenting with signs and symptoms after returning from endemic areas, especially considering the increasing number of migrants that have in recent years been moving, in addition to tourists or business travellers. In areas where a competent vector population exists, the potential for reintroduction of the disease remains. The knowledge of plasmodia distribution, the attention of physicians in non-endemic areas in suspecting malaria in the presence of signs and symptoms, and the application of appropriate diagnostic assays, as well as the administration of a prompt therapy are essential. This Special Issue aims to draw the attention of malaria experts to publish articles that increase knowledge of its epidemiology in non-endemic areas and make it as up to date as possible, as well as articles that focus on advanced diagnostic methods and on the latest news on therapy in order to reduce the impact of imported malaria and the risk of reintroduction of autochthonous malaria in malaria-free regions.

Prof. Dr. Adriana Calderaro
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Microorganisms is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • malaria
  • malaria burden
  • plasmodia
  • non-endemic areas
  • imported malaria
  • diagnosis
  • therapy
  • epidemiology

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

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12 pages, 1058 KiB  
Article
Imported Malaria in Portugal: Prevalence of Polymorphisms in the Anti-Malarial Drug Resistance Genes pfmdr1 and pfk13
by Debora Serrano, Ana Santos-Reis, Clemente Silva, Ana Dias, Brigite Dias, Cristina Toscano, Cláudia Conceição, Teresa Baptista-Fernandes and Fatima Nogueira
Microorganisms 2021, 9(10), 2045; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/microorganisms9102045 - 28 Sep 2021
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2292
Abstract
Malaria is one of the ‘big three’ killer infectious diseases, alongside tuberculosis and HIV. In non-endemic areas, malaria may occur in travelers who have recently been to or visited endemic regions. The number of imported malaria cases in Portugal has increased in recent [...] Read more.
Malaria is one of the ‘big three’ killer infectious diseases, alongside tuberculosis and HIV. In non-endemic areas, malaria may occur in travelers who have recently been to or visited endemic regions. The number of imported malaria cases in Portugal has increased in recent years, mostly due to the close relationship with the community of Portuguese language countries. Samples were collected from malaria-infected patients attending Centro Hospitalar Lisboa Ocidental (CHLO) or the outpatient clinic of Instituto de Higiene e Medicina Tropical (IHMT-NOVA) between March 2014 and May 2021. Molecular characterization of Plasmodium falciparum pfk13 and pfmdr1 genes was performed. We analyzed 232 imported malaria cases. The majority (68.53%) of the patients came from Angola and only three patients travelled to a non-African country; one to Brazil and two to Indonesia. P. falciparum was diagnosed in 81.47% of the cases, P. malariae in 7.33%, P. ovale 6.47% and 1.72% carried P. vivax. No mutations were detected in pfk13. Regarding pfmdr1, the wild-type haplotype (N86/Y184/D1246) was also the most prevalent (64.71%) and N86/184F/D1246 was detected in 26.47% of the cases. The typical imported malaria case was middle-aged male, traveling from Angola, infected with P. falciparum carrying wild type pfmdr1 and pfk13. Our study highlights the need for constant surveillance of malaria parasites imported into Portugal as an important pillar of public health. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Malaria in Non-Endemic Areas: Diagnosis, Therapy and Epidemiology)
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Review

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25 pages, 2381 KiB  
Review
Malaria Diagnosis in Non-Endemic Settings: The European Experience in the Last 22 Years
by Adriana Calderaro, Sara Montecchini, Mirko Buttrini, Giovanna Piccolo, Sabina Rossi, Maria Cristina Arcangeletti, Benedetta Farina, Flora De Conto and Carlo Chezzi
Microorganisms 2021, 9(11), 2265; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/microorganisms9112265 - 31 Oct 2021
Cited by 11 | Viewed by 5862
Abstract
Accurate, prompt, and reliable tools for the diagnosis of malaria are crucial for tracking the successes or drawbacks of control and elimination efforts, and for future programs aimed at global malaria eradication. Although microscopy remains the gold standard method, the number of imported [...] Read more.
Accurate, prompt, and reliable tools for the diagnosis of malaria are crucial for tracking the successes or drawbacks of control and elimination efforts, and for future programs aimed at global malaria eradication. Although microscopy remains the gold standard method, the number of imported malaria cases and the risk of reappearance of autochthonous cases stimulated several laboratories located in European countries to evaluate methods and algorithms suited to non-endemic settings, where skilled microscopists are not always available. In this review, an overview of the field evaluation and a comparison of the methods used for the diagnosis of malaria by European laboratories is reported, showing that the development of numerous innovations is continuous. In particular, the combination of rapid diagnostic tests and molecular assays with microscopy represents a reliable system for the early diagnosis of malaria in non-endemic settings. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Malaria in Non-Endemic Areas: Diagnosis, Therapy and Epidemiology)
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20 pages, 1163 KiB  
Review
Airport Malaria in Non-Endemic Areas: New Insights into Mosquito Vectors, Case Management and Major Challenges
by Leo Dilane Alenou and Josiane Etang
Microorganisms 2021, 9(10), 2160; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/microorganisms9102160 - 16 Oct 2021
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 3717
Abstract
Despite the implementation of preventive measures in airports and aircrafts, the risk of importing Plasmodium spp. infected mosquitoes is still present in malaria-free countries. Evidence suggests that mosquitoes have found a new alliance with the globalization of trade and climate change, leading to [...] Read more.
Despite the implementation of preventive measures in airports and aircrafts, the risk of importing Plasmodium spp. infected mosquitoes is still present in malaria-free countries. Evidence suggests that mosquitoes have found a new alliance with the globalization of trade and climate change, leading to an upsurge of malaria parasite transmission around airports. The resulting locally acquired form of malaria is called Airport malaria. However, piecemeal information is available, regarding its epidemiological and entomological patterns, as well as the challenges in the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention. Understanding these issues is a critical step towards a better implementation of control strategies. To cross reference this information, we conducted a systematic review on 135 research articles published between 1969 (when the first cases of malaria in airports were reported) and 2020 (i.e., 51 years later). It appears that the risk of malaria transmission by local mosquito vectors in so called malaria-free countries is not zero; this risk is more likely to be fostered by infected vectors coming from endemic countries by air or by sea. Furthermore, there is ample evidence that airport malaria is increasing in these countries. From 2010 to 2020, the number of cases in Europe was 7.4 times higher than that recorded during the 2000–2009 decade. This increase may be associated with climate change, increased international trade, the decline of aircraft disinsection, as well as delays in case diagnosis and treatment. More critically, current interventions are weakened by biological and operational challenges, such as drug resistance in malaria parasites and vector resistance to insecticides, and logistic constraints. Therefore, there is a need to strengthen malaria prevention and treatment for people at risk of airport malaria, and implement a rigorous routine entomological and epidemiological surveillance in and around airports. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Malaria in Non-Endemic Areas: Diagnosis, Therapy and Epidemiology)
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14 pages, 1215 KiB  
Review
Atlantic Forest Malaria: A Review of More than 20 Years of Epidemiological Investigation
by Julyana Cerqueira Buery, Filomena Euridice Carvalho de Alencar, Ana Maria Ribeiro de Castro Duarte, Ana Carolina Loss, Creuza Rachel Vicente, Lucas Mendes Ferreira, Blima Fux, Márcia Melo Medeiros, Pedro Cravo, Ana Paula Arez and Crispim Cerutti Junior
Microorganisms 2021, 9(1), 132; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/microorganisms9010132 - 08 Jan 2021
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 3285
Abstract
In the south and southeast regions of Brazil, cases of malaria occur outside the endemic Amazon region near the Atlantic Forest in some coastal states, where Plasmodium vivax is the recognized parasite. Characteristics of cases and vectors, especially Anopheles (Kerteszia) cruzii, raise [...] Read more.
In the south and southeast regions of Brazil, cases of malaria occur outside the endemic Amazon region near the Atlantic Forest in some coastal states, where Plasmodium vivax is the recognized parasite. Characteristics of cases and vectors, especially Anopheles (Kerteszia) cruzii, raise the hypothesis of a zoonosis with simians as reservoirs. The present review aims to report on investigations of the disease over a 23-year period. Two main sources have provided epidemiological data: the behavior of Anopheles vectors and the genetic and immunological aspects of Plasmodium spp. obtained from humans, Alouatta simians, and Anopheles spp. mosquitoes. Anopheles (K.) cruzii is the most captured species in the forest canopy and is the recognized vector. The similarity between P. vivax and Plasmodium simium and that between Plasmodium malariae and Plasmodium brasilianum shared between simian and human hosts and the involvement of the same vector in the transmission to both hosts suggest interspecies transfer of the parasites. Finally, recent evidence points to the presence of Plasmodium falciparum in a silent cycle, detected only by molecular methods in asymptomatic individuals and An. (K.) cruzii. In the context of malaria elimination, it is paramount to assemble data about transmission in such non-endemic low-incidence areas. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Malaria in Non-Endemic Areas: Diagnosis, Therapy and Epidemiology)
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