Malaria is a protozoan disease transmitted by the bite of female Anopheles mosquitoes. Only four species of Plasmodium can infect human, which are P. vivax, P. ovale, P. malariae, and P. falciparum.
We experienced four cases of the imported falciparum malaria in children who were admitted due to fever, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain, lethargic state, and/or altered mentality after traveling Kenya and Tanzania without chemoprophylaxis.
Two
of
them were diagnosed as the cerebral malaria. Their peripheral blood smear films show multiple ring forms of P. falciparum, gametocytes in the erythrocytes, and malarial pigments in the cytoplasm of neutrophils. They are treated by quinine without
complication.
Recently, as the international travelers tended to be increasing, the incidence of the imported malaria was increasing in Korea. Therefore we should be established be established the strategies for the prevention and the treatment of the imported
malaria.
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