Abstract：Objective To analyze the epidemiological characteristics and clinical manifestations of imported malaria in Hunan Province, and to investigate the existing problems in its diagnosis and treatment. Methods The malaria cases confirmed in Laboratory of Parasitic Diseases in Hunan Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention from March, 2003 to December, 2010 were recruited, and the cases’ outpatient or inpatient records and laboratory examination results in other hospitals were collected. The cases were retrospectively analyzed by descriptive epidemiological methods and given standardized treatment. Results There were 66 cases of imported malaria, including 57 males and 9 females. Their age ranged from 6 to 58 years old, with the average age of 34.9 years. Farmers accounted for 68.2%, and engineering and technical personnel, students, business and other occupations accounted for 31.8%. The cases of vivax malaria, falciparum malaria and mixed malaria infections accounted for 71.2%,24.2% and 4.6% respectively. The imported cases from other provinces accounted for 39.7%, and those from Africa and Southeast Asian countries accounted for 60.3%. The resident cases of Hunan Province and other provinces accounted for 86.4% and 12.1% respectively, while foreign cases accounted for 1.5%. 16 (24.2%) local cases got infected in other provinces, 42 (63.6%) local cases got infected in other countries, 7 (10.6%) residents of other provinces got infected in other provinces and 1(1.5%) foreign case got infected in other countries. The shortest time from onset to diagnosis was 3 days, while the longest 240 days, with an average of 22.3 days. 20 kinds of diseases, such as upper respiratory tract infection, typhoid fever, sepsis and cold, got involved into misdiagnoses. Conclusions Misdiagnoses and missed diagnoses of imported malaria cases in Hunan Province are common. It is necessary to enhance the training about diagnosis and treatment of malaria and microscopy of Plasmodium among the clinicians and improve their diagnosis and treatment level.
2017, Vol. 24 
