Abstract:

Objective: To evaluate the importance of imported malaria at the Moulay Ismail Military Hospital of Meknes, we have led a descriptive study of the epidemiological, clinical, biological and evolutionary characteristics of the registered ma­laria cases. Methods: A prospective study was carried out at the Department of Parasitology from January 2011 to December 2012. In this study, we have included all the patients who were confirmed to have malaria through a biological diagnosis. Results: The number of the studied cases was 30; two in 2011 and 28 in 2012. The incidence has increased from 128.4 to 1798.3 per 100,000 travelers during this period among travelers. The average age was 31.3 ± 7.2 years (range 20 and 48 years). In all the cases, malaria was contracted in sub-Saharan Africa. Twenty six cases were in peacekeeping military mission; 15 of them have traveled and stayed in Ivory Coast and 11 in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The main clinical sign was fever Plasmodium falciparum was observed in 20 cases (66%), P. ovale in seven cases (24%), P. malariae in two cases (7%) and a combination of P. falciparum and P. ovale in one single case (3%). All patients received per oral mefloquine. The post therapeutic evolution was marked by a unique death from acute pulmonary edema, which was due to P. ovale. Conclusion: This high occurrence of malaria in our hospital is partially explained by the deployment of half of our mili­tary forces in various high risk fields.

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