Epidemiological and clinical characteristics of patients with malaria admitted to a hospital in Mérida, Venezuela

Abstract

Background Malaria is expanding rapidly across Venezuela, spreading outwards from traditional high transmission regions in the southeast of the country, but the lack of official data make it impossible to understand the reasons for this expansion and to estimate its real magnitude. This study aims to evaluate the epidemiological characteristics driving the re-emergence of malaria in Mérida, a state in the west of Venezuela, where no cases have been reported since 2003, and also to study the clinical presentation of the disease in patients presenting with malaria. Methods Thirty-three patients who presented with anemia and fever and with a microscopic diagnosis of malaria were examined and interviewed. Data were collected in standardized forms and analyzed. One-way analysis of variance was used to study differences among patients infected with different parasites. Results Twenty-two patients were from the Zulia state and eleven were from the Mérida state, mainly from the lowlands south of Lake Maracaibo. Six of these patients traveled to the Bolívar state between 2017 and 2019. Thirteen patients presented with the WHO criteria for severe malaria. Conclusions: Domestic migration to the southeast of Venezuela may have played an important role in the expansion of malaria in previously existing endemic areas of transmission and also in the increase in the number of cases of severe malaria.

Cross-border COVID-19 spread amidst malaria re-emergence in Venezuela: a human rights analysis

“…Illegal gold mining affects ecosystems as it involves vast deforestation and contamination of food and water sources, which favors mosquito proliferation [36]. The increase in malaria incidence has been associated with these human activities and the massive migration to these areas of people looking for jobs [52]; but also to the conditions in which miners work, being overexposed to long Granted to groups that have been historically and/or socially discriminated against periods outside and pressured to live in camps where living conditions lack sanitary standards of health and protection (complete walls, mosquito nets, roof protection) [36,51]. This violates their rights to work and housing as understood in international human rights law (ICESC, Arts.…”

“…The Venezuelan State has neglected to take effective measures that ensure the protection of the environment and the disposal of hazardous materials derived from mining, which greatly harms indigenous communities in the area [53], violating their right to a clean environment and the protection of its resources according to the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People and the Venezuelan Constitution [54]. Expansion of endemic transmission from Zulia to Mérida is also due to domestic massive migration patterns that spread the disease to areas of chronic under-investment in public health in the Southeast of the country [52]. Indigenous people have repeatedly denounced the exploitation and detrimental impact that mining has on their territories, bringing settlers into their land, increasing disease infection rates and exposing their communities, particularly women and children, to sexual and labor exploitation [55,56].…”

Survey and Analysis of Chemoprophylaxis Policies for Domestic Travel in Malaria-Endemic Countries

“…In the western Kenyan highlands, infection by P. falciparum was about twice as likely with recent travel to lowland areas relative to no travel [ 31 ]. Gabaldon-Figueira et al [ 32 ] considered domestic travel within Venezuela as a key factor behind the recent rapid expansion of re-established endemic malaria transmission in that nation. Very many outbreaks within MRAs of tremendously varied settings and locations occur [ 12 , 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 ].…”