Malaria Imported from Ghana by Returning Gold Miners, China, 2013 - Volume 21, Number 5—May 2015 - Emerging Infectious Disease journal - CDC

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Malaria Imported from Ghana by Returning Gold Miners, China, 2013 - Volume 21, Number 5—May 2015 - Emerging Infectious Disease journal - CDC

Volume 21, Number 5—May 2015

Dispatch

Malaria Imported from Ghana by Returning Gold Miners, China, 2013

On This Page

• The Study
• Conclusions
• Suggested Citation

Figures

• Figure 1
• Figure 2

Tables

• Table 1
• Table 2

Technical Appendicies

• Technical Appendix

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• PDF[1.59 MB - 4 pgs]
• RIS[TXT - 2 KB]

Zhongjie Li1, Yichao Yang1, Ning Xiao1, Sheng Zhou, Kangming Lin, Duoquan Wang, Qian Zhang, Weikang Jiang, Mei Li, Xinyu Feng, Jianxin Yu, Xiang Ren, Shengjie Lai, Junling Sun, Zhongliao Fang, Wenbiao Hu, Archie C.A. Clements, Xiaonong Zhou, Hongjie Yu , and Weizhong Yang 

Author affiliations: Key Laboratory of Surveillance and Early-warning on Infectious Disease, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Beijing, China (Z. Li, S. Zhou, Q. Zhang, J. Yu, X. Ren, S. Lai, J. Sun, H. Yu, W. Yang); Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Center for Diseases Control and Prevention, Nanning, China (Y. Yang, K. Lin, Z. Fang); National Institute of Parasitic Diseases, Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, Shanghai, China (N. Xiao, D. Wang, W. Jiang, M. Li, X. Feng, X. Zhou); Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia (W. Hu); Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia (A.C.A. Clements)

Suggested citation for this article

Abstract

During May-August 2013, a malaria outbreak comprising 874 persons in Shanglin County, China, was detected among 4,052 persons returning from overseas. Ghana was the predominant destination country, and 92.3% of malarial infections occurred in gold miners. Preventive measures should be enhanced for persons in high-risk occupations traveling to malaria-endemic countries.

Malaria is a potentially deadly disease caused by infection with Plasmodium spp. parasites, which are transmitted to humans through bites from infected Anopheles spp. mosquitoes. As part of global malaria elimination actions by the World Health Organization, in 2010, the government of China initiated the National Action Plan for Malaria Elimination to eliminate malaria by 2020 (1). In recent years, the incidence of malaria in China has decreased sharply to 0.18 cases per 100,000 persons in 2012 (2). However, imported malaria among persons returning from overseas malaria-endemic regions has been documented in some areas of China (3,4). These imported cases present a new challenge to malaria elimination in China. To facilitate formulation of more effective prevention and control measures for imported malaria at a time of rapidly increasing globalization, we describe the epidemiologic characteristics of a large outbreak of imported malaria among Chinese workers returning from overseas countries, in Shanglin County, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, in 2013.

Dr. Zhongjie Li is an epidemiologist at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention. His research interests include the epidemiology of infectious disease and early-warning system on disease outbreak detection.

Acknowledgments

We acknowledge Shanglin County Center for Disease Control and Prevention and the clinical institutes in Shanglin County for their assistance in the field investigations and data collection.

This study was supported by grants from the Ministry of Science and Technology of China (2012ZX10004-201, 2012ZX10004-220, 2014BAI13B05) and the Ministry of Health of China (No. 201202006). The funding bodies had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, preparation of the manuscript, or the decision to publish.

References

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Figures

• Figure 1. Geographic origin of gold miners returning from oversea (Ghana) and distribution of detected malaria infections, Shanglin County, China, May 1–August 31, 2013. A) Geographic origin of screened miners and...
• Figure 2. Age and sex of persons who had malaria, Shanglin County, China, May 1–August 31, 2013.

Tables

• Table 1. Results of Plasmodium spp. screening by microscopic examination, Shanglin County, China, May 1–August 31, 2013
• Table 2. Clinical manifestation of malaria among hospitalized persons, Shanglin County, China, May 1–August 31, 2013

Technical Appendix

• Technical Appendix. Case criteria for outpatient and inpatient malaria treatme  136 KB

Suggested citation for this article: Li Z, Yang Y, Xiao N, Zhou S, Lin K, Wang D, Zhang Q, et al. Malaria imported from Ghana by returning gold miners, China, 2013. Emerg Infect Dis. 2015 May [date cited]. http://dx.doi.org/10.3201/eid2105.141712

DOI: 10.3201/eid2105.141712

1These authors contributed equally to this article.