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Worldwide Malaria Epidemiology: Where We Are Now

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 October 2021) | Viewed by 6864

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Special Issue Editor

Dr. Alena Pance

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Guest Editor

The Wellcome Sanger Institute, Genome Campus, Hinxton. Cambridgeshire CB10 1SA, UK
Interests: malaria; host–parasite interactions; stem cells; erythropoietic differentiation; transcriptional regulation; gene editing; epigenetics; genomics

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Malaria is a worldwide public health problem that causes crippling disease and leads to approximately half a million deaths every year. The intense efforts of the malaria interventions deployed around the world at the beginning of the millennium achieved a substantial decrease of the incidence of the disease, which encouraged ambitious plans for malaria elimination by the World Health Organization. However, recent years have witnessed a stagnation in the progress of reducing cases of malaria, compounded by a number of factors such as conflict, poverty, and political instability.

In this Special Issue, we aim to assemble the most recent information and data regarding the state of malaria infection around the world in order to provide an overview of the distribution and prevalence of the disease. For this Special Issue, Microorganisms is calling for original research or review articles focusing on all epidemiological aspects of the human malaria species around the world to advance the current understanding of the hotspots of infection, of the prevalence of subclinical carriers, of the transmission seasons, and of the genetic diversity, as well as any work that contributes to defining risk factors and informing healthcare strategies.

Dr. Alena Pance
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
infection
public health
epidemiology

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

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16 pages, 1048 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Factors Associated with Prolonged Hospital Length of Stay in Adults with Imported Falciparum Malaria—An Observational Study from a Tertiary Care University Hospital in Berlin, Germany

by Bodo Hoffmeister

Microorganisms 2021, 9(9), 1941; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/microorganisms9091941 - 12 Sep 2021

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2021

Abstract

Outcome of falciparum malaria is largely influenced by the standard of care provided, which in turn depends on the available medical resources. Worldwide, the COVID-19 pandemic has had a major impact on the availability of these resources, even in resource-rich healthcare systems such as Germany’s. The present study aimed to determine the under-explored factors associated with hospital length of stay (LOS) in imported falciparum malaria to identify potential targets for improving management. This retrospective observational study used multivariate Cox proportional hazard regression with time to discharge as an endpoint for adults hospitalized between 2001 and 2015 with imported falciparum malaria in the Charité University Hospital, Berlin. The median LOS of the 535 cases enrolled was 3 days (inter-quartile range, IQR, 3–4 days). The likelihood of being discharged by day 3 strongly decreased with severe malaria (hazard ratio, HR, 0.274; 95% Confidence interval, 95%CI: 0.190–0.396) and by 40% with each additional presenting complication (HR, 0.595; 95%CI: 0.510–0.694). The 55 (10.3%) severe cases required a median LOS of 7 days (IQR, 5–12 days). In multivariate analysis, occurrence of shock (adjusted HR, aHR, 0.438; 95%CI 0.220–0.873), acute pulmonary oedema or acute respiratory distress syndrome (aHR, 0.450; 95%CI: 0.223–0.874), and the need for renal replacement therapy (aHR, 0.170; 95%CI: 0.063–0.461) were independently associated with LOS. All patients survived to discharge. This study illustrates that favourable outcomes can be achieved with high-standard care in imported falciparum malaria. Early recognition of disease severity together with targeted supportive care can lead to avoidance of manifest organ failure, thereby potentially decreasing LOS and alleviating pressure on bed capacities. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Worldwide Malaria Epidemiology: Where We Are Now)

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Review

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24 pages, 1018 KiB

Open AccessReview

Current Epidemiological Characteristics of Imported Malaria, Vector Control Status and Malaria Elimination Prospects in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Countries

by Jamshaid Iqbal, Suhail Ahmad, Ali Sher and Mohammad Al-Awadhi

Microorganisms 2021, 9(7), 1431; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/microorganisms9071431 - 02 Jul 2021

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 3986

Abstract

Malaria is the most common vector-borne parasitic infection causing significant human morbidity and mortality in nearly 90 tropical/sub-tropical countries worldwide. Significant differences exist in the incidence of malaria cases, dominant Plasmodium species, drug-resistant strains and mortality rates in different countries. Six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries (Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates, UAE) in the Middle East region with similar climates, population demographics and economic prosperity are aiming to achieve malaria elimination. In this narrative review, all studies indexed in PubMed describing epidemiological characteristics of indigenous and imported malaria cases, vector control status and how malaria infections can be controlled to achieve malaria elimination in GCC countries were reviewed and discussed. These studies have shown that indigenous malaria cases are absent in Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and UAE and have progressively declined in Oman and Saudi Arabia. However, imported malaria cases continue to occur as GCC countries have large expatriate populations originating from malaria-endemic countries. Various malaria control and prevention strategies adopted by GCC countries including more stringent measures to reduce the likelihood of importing malaria cases by prior screening of newly arriving expatriates and vector elimination programs are likely to lead to malaria elimination in this region. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Worldwide Malaria Epidemiology: Where We Are Now)

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