Type 2 Diabetes and Malarial Infection | CDC EID

EID Journal Home > Volume 16, Number 10–October 2010
Volume 16, Number 10–October 2010
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Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus and Increased Risk for Malaria Infection

Ina Danquah, George Bedu-Addo, and Frank P. Mockenhaupt Comments to Author
Author affiliations: Institute of Tropical Medicine and International Health, Berlin, Germany (I. Danquah, F.P. Mockenhaupt); and Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana (G. Bedu-Addo)

Suggested citation for this article

Abstract
A case–control study of 1,466 urban adults in Ghana found that patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus had a 46% increased risk for infection with Plasmodium falciparum. Increase in diabetes mellitus prevalence may put more persons at risk for malaria infection.

In sub-Saharan Africa, infectious diseases remain the predominant cause of illness and death. Plasmodium falciparum malaria alone causes an estimated 1 million deaths annually (1). At the same time, sub-Saharan Africa faces the world’s highest increase in type 2 diabetes mellitus; adaptation to Western lifestyles and genetic predispositions may accelerate this trend (2,3). A decade ago, type 2 diabetes mellitus prevalence in urban Ghana was 6.3% (4). By 2030, »20 million affected persons may live in sub-Saharan Africa (2). Type 2 diabetes mellitus increases susceptibility to common infections (5). In sub-Saharan Africa, the emerging co-occurrence of type 2 diabetes mellitus and tropical infectious diseases thus may have substantial implications. We describe prevalence of malaria infection in adults with and without type 2 diabetes mellitus residing in Kumasi, Ghana. Malaria transmission in Kumasi is low but patchy; mosquito breeding sites also occur in urban agricultural areas (6).

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Type 2 Diabetes and Malarial Infection | CDC EID


Suggested Citation for this Article

Danquah I, Bedu-Abbo G, Mockenhaupt FP. Type 2 diabetes mellitus and increased risk for malaria infection. Emerg Infect Dis [serial on the Internet]. 2010 Oct [date cited]. http://www.cdc.gov/EID/content/16/10/1601.htm

DOI: 10.3201/eid1610.100399

Comments to the Authors

Please use the form below to submit correspondence to the authors or contact them at the following address:

Frank P. Mockenhaupt, Institute of Tropical Medicine and International Health Berlin, Charité–University Medicine Berlin, Spandauer Damm 130, 14050 Berlin, Germany; email: frank.mockenhaupt@charite.de