P. vivax Malaria, French Guiana | CDC EID

P. vivax Malaria, French Guiana | CDC EID: "EID Journal Home > Volume 17, Number 7–July 2011

Volume 17, Number 7–July 2011
Dispatch
Plasmodium vivax Malaria among Military Personnel, French Guiana, 1998–2008

Benjamin Queyriaux, Comments to Author Gaëtan Texier, Lénaïck Ollivier, Laurent Galoisy-Guibal, Rémy Michel, Jean-Baptiste Meynard, Christophe Decam, Catherine Verret, Vincent Pommier de Santi, André Spiegel, Jean-Paul Boutin, René Migliani, and Xavier Deparis
Author affiliations: Institut de Médicine Tropicale du Service de Santé des Armées, Marseille, France (B. Queyriaux, G. Texier, L. Ollivier, R. Michel, C. Decam, V. Pommier de Santi, J.-P. Boutin, X. Deparis); Hôpital d'Instruction des Armées Desgenettes, Lyon, France (L. Galoisy-Guibal); École du Val de Grâce, Paris, France (J.-B. Meynard, C. Verret, R. Migliani); and Institut Pasteur, Cayenne, France (A. Spiegel)

Suggested citation for this article

Abstract
We obtained health surveillance epidemiologic data on malaria among French military personnel deployed to French Guiana during 1998–2008. Incidence of Plasmodium vivax malaria increased and that of P. falciparum remained stable. This new epidemiologic situation has led to modification of malaria treatment for deployed military personnel.

French Guiana is a French Province located on the northern coast of South America that had 221,500 inhabitants in 2008 (1). Malaria is endemo-epidemic to the Amazon basin. Since 2000, the annual number of Plasmodium falciparum and P. vivax malaria cases in French Guiana has ranged from 3,500 to 4,500 (2). Approximately 3,000 French military personnel are deployed annually in French Guiana, and malaria occasionally affects their operational capabilities.

Only military personnel on duty in the Amazon basin are required to take malaria chemoprophylaxis; personnel deployed in coast regions are not. Until February 2001, the chemoprophylaxis regimen consisted of chloroquine (100 mg/d) and proguanil (200 mg/d). During March 2001–October 2003, mefloquine (250 mg/wk) was used. Since November, 2003 malaria chemoprophylaxis has been doxycycline (100 mg/d), which is initiated on arrival in the Amazon basin. All chemoprophylaxis is continued until 4 weeks after departure. Because of the absence of marketing authorization as chemoprophylaxis by the French Medicines Agency, primaquine was not used until recently. Other individual and collective protective measures did not change during 1998–2008.

Despite the availability of chemoprophylaxis, since 2003, several malaria outbreaks have been identified after operations against illegal mining in the Amazon basin (3,4). The purpose of those studies was to describe outbreaks and determine factors related to malaria cases. We report French military health surveillance epidemiologic data on malaria among military personnel deployed to French Guiana during 1998–2008.

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Suggested Citation for this Article

Queyriaux B, Texier G, Ollivier L, Galoisy-Guibal L, Michel R, Meynard J-B, et al. Plasmodium vivax malaria among military personnel, French Guiana, 1998–2008. Emerg Infect Dis [serial on the Internet]. 2011 Jul [date cited]. http://www.cdc.gov/EID/content/17/7/1280.htm

DOI: 10.3201/eid1707.100009

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Benjamin Queyriaux, Département d'Épidémiologie et de Santé Publique, Institut de Médicine Tropicale du Service de Santé des Armées, Parc du Pharo, Boulevard Charles Livon, Marseille 13007, France; email: b.queyriaux@gmail.com