Table 1.
Characteristics of travellers with malaria reported to GeoSentinel, January 2003–June 2016
| Characteristic | All travellers (n = 5689) | No species diagnosis (n = 443) | P. falciparum (n = 4011) | P. vivax (n = 857) | P. ovale (n = 251) | P. malariae (n = 124) | P. knowlesi (n = 3) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Median age, years (range) | 37 (0–88) | 38 (0–87) | 30 (1–88) | 36 (2–73) | 39 (4–76) | 40 (35–52) | |
| Male, n (%)a | 3918 (69) | 304 (69) | 2712 (68) | 632 (74) | 179 (71) | 89 (72) | 2 (67) |
| Travellers without pre-travel visit, n (%)b | 2891 (53) | 229 (54) | 2173 (57) | 373 (47) | 69 (29) | 46 (39) | 1 (50) |
| Reason for travel, n (%)c | |||||||
| VFRs | 3017 (53) | 178 (40) | 2422 (60) | 277 (32) | 90 (36) | 50 (40) | 0 (0) |
| Business | 967 (17) | 124 (26) | 623 (16) | 127 (15) | 60 (24) | 32 (26) | 1 (33) |
| Tourism | 918 (16) | 87 (20) | 530 (13) | 247 (29) | 34 (14) | 19 (15) | 1 (33) |
| Missionaryd | 514 (9) | 49 (11) | 330 (8) | 74 (9) | 40 (16) | 20 (16) | 1 (33) |
| Military | 184 (3) | 8 (2) | 44 (1) | 108 (13) | 23 (9) | 1 (1) | 0 (0) |
| Student | 77 (1) | 6 (1) | 50 (1) | 18 (2) | 1 (<1) | 2 (2) | 0 (0) |
| Migrant worker | 11 (<1) | 0 (0) | 7 (<1) | 2 (<1) | 2 (1) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) |
| Planned medical care | 4 (<1) | 1 (<1) | 2 (<1) | 1 (<1) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) |
| Research | 3 (<1) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 2 (0.2) | 1 (<1) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) |
| Region of exposure, n (%) | |||||||
| Sub-Saharan Africa | 4705 (83) | 404 (91) | 3771 (94) | 167 (20) | 244 (97) | 119 (96) | N/A |
| South Central Asia | 309 (5) | 6 (1) | 28 (1) | 272 (32) | 2 (1) | 1 (1) | N/A |
| Southeast Asia | 266 (5) | 17 (4) | 112 (3) | 133 (15) | N/A | 1 (1) | 3 (100) |
| South America | 195 (3) | 6 (1) | 16 (<1) | 171 (20) | 1 (<1) | 1 (1) | 0 (0) |
| Oceania | 96 (2) | 3 (1) | 13 (<1) | 77 (9) | 2 (1) | 1 (1) | 0 (0) |
| Caribbean | 45 (1) | 2 (<1) | 42 (1) | 1 (<1) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) |
| North Africa | 39 (1) | 2 (<1) | 26 (1) | 8 (1) | 2 (1) | 1 (1) | 0 (0) |
| Central America | 30 (<1) | 3 (1) | 2 (<1) | 25 (3) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) |
| Northeast Asia | 3 (<1) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 3 (<1) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) |
| Middle East | 1 (<1) | 0 (0) | 1 (<1) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) |
| Median trip duration, days (IQR) | 32 (20–75) | 31 (17–76) | 31 (20–63) | 36 (18–101) | 56 (22–156) | 34 (26–95) | 21 (21–52) |
| Median days between return and presenting to a site (IQR) | 11 (6–21) | 10 (5–17) | 10 (5–16) | 30 (13–76) | 52 (16–98) | 35 (15–64) | 21 (2–23) |
| Hospitalized, n (%)e | 3523 (62) | 345 (78) | 2537 (63) | 477 (56) | 105 (41) | 59 (48) | 0 (0) |
aInformation was not available for 47 travellers (2 with P. falciparum)
bInformation was not available for 268 travellers (168 with P. falciparum, 59 with for P. vivax, 14 with P. ovale, 5 with P. malariae, and 1 with P. knowlesi)
cInformation was not available for 4 travellers (3 with P. falciparum and 1 with P. vivax)
dIncludes missionaries, volunteers and aid workers
eInformation was not available for 1 traveller with P. falciparum