Rate of malarial infection among foreigners in a tertiary hospital of Thailand: change of epidemiology and importance of travel medicine (1996-2005)

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVES: Malaria is still an important infectious disease in Thailand. The study of the incidence of malaria can provide useful data for disease prevention and control. At present, trade and travel can impact on vector-borne diseases, including malaria. Transmission of malaria from an endemic to a non-endemic area can be expected and this can affect the pattern of malaria epidemiology. METHODS: Analysis of rate of malarial infection among foreigners in a tertiary hospital of Thailand in the past decade (1996-2005) was carried out by scrutinising the available published and unpublished. RESULTS: According to this study, two main groups of travellers, the migrant workers from the nearby countries, who bring malaria from the endemic area in their countries and the naive cases as the travellers from the western countries, who expose to malaria during their travelling in Thailand, can be identified. CONCLUSION: Change of epidemiology due to high rate of infection in non-Thai patients and importance of travel on the epidemiology of malaria can be seen from this study.