Malaria notifications in the Australian Defence Force from 1998 to 2007

Abstract 

We report here a retrospective analysis of all malaria cases in military personnel reported to the Australian Defence Force (ADF) Central Malaria Register from 1998 to 2007.

A total of 637 cases of malaria were notified affecting 487 individuals. Of these 85.9% (547) were infected with Plasmodium vivax malaria and 10.2% (65) with P. falciparum malaria. The majority of cases were from Timor Leste (78.5%, 501/637). Malaria attack rates of 0.9% (369/40 571), 1.1% (52/4776) and 0.4% (20/5345) were seen in Timor Leste, Bougainville and the Solomon Islands, respectively. The median period following departure from a malarious country to presentation of P. falciparum was 17 d (range 1–47 d) and for a primary presentation of P. vivax malaria was 86 d (range 1–505 d). Increasing the dose of primaquine from 22.5mg daily to 30mg daily for 14 d for radical cure of P. vivax malaria reduced the failure rate from 46.6% (35/75) to 9.4% (17/181) in subjects returning from Timor Leste.

Malaria remains a serious problem for ADF soldiers deploying to malarious areas, particularly the incidence of relapsing vivax malaria and the tolerance of these vivax strains to primaquine.

Keywords: Malaria, Plasmodium vivax, Plasmodium falciparum, Timor Leste, Bougainville, Solomon Islands