Abstract:
Malaria is a parasitic infection that may result in an acute, life-threatening illness. It is a major public health problem in the tropical world. The disease is caused by the parasites of the genus Plasmodium and is transmitted by female Anopheles mosquitoes. Saudi Arabia is in the elimination phase of malaria control. Several parts of Saudi Arabia report cases of imported malaria among travelers and visitors. The city of Makkah in Saudi Arabia has a population of about 2.3 million. Moreover, over 6 million religious visitors from different parts of the world visit Makkah annually. During the COVID-19 outbreak, travel restrictions were enforced in Makkah to contain the spread of COVID-19. We compare the total reported cases of malaria in Makkah before, during, and after COVID-19 travel restrictions in this retrospective cross-sectional study. Data on demographics, clinical data, and laboratory parameters were collected from the medical records of the Ministry of Health, Saudi Arabia. The annual malaria incidence rates in Makkah were 29.13/million people (2018), 37.82/million people (2019), 15.65/million people (2020), 12.61/million people (2021), and 48.69/million people (2022). Most of the malaria cases in Makkah were caused by Plasmodium falciparum, followed by P. vivax. Sudan, Nigeria, Yamen, Pakistan, and India are the top five countries contributing to malaria cases in Makkah. Weekly malaria case analyses revealed that COVID-19-related travel restrictions resulted in zero malaria cases in Makkah, indicating the magnitude of the travel-related malaria burden in the city.
摘要:
疟疾是一种寄生虫感染,可能导致急性,危及生命的疾病.这是热带世界的主要公共卫生问题。该疾病是由疟原虫属的寄生虫引起的,并由雌性按蚊传播。沙特阿拉伯正处于疟疾控制的消除阶段。沙特阿拉伯的一些地区报告了旅行者和游客中的输入性疟疾病例。沙特阿拉伯的麦加市人口约230万。此外,每年有超过600万来自世界各地的宗教游客访问麦加。在COVID-19爆发期间,麦加实施了旅行限制,以遏制COVID-19的传播。我们比较了麦加以前报告的疟疾病例总数,during,在这项回顾性横断面研究中,在COVID-19旅行限制之后。人口统计数据,临床资料,和实验室参数是从卫生部的医疗记录中收集的,沙特阿拉伯。麦加的年疟疾发病率为29.13/万人(2018年),37.82/万人(2019年),1565/万人(2020年),12.61/百万人(2021年),和4869/万人(2022年)。麦加的大部分疟疾病例是由恶性疟原虫引起的,其次是间日疟原虫。苏丹,尼日利亚,鸭门,巴基斯坦,印度是麦加疟疾病例的前五个国家。每周疟疾病例分析显示,与COVID-19相关的旅行限制导致麦加零疟疾病例,表明该市与旅行相关的疟疾负担的严重程度。