Francesco Castelli from the Brescia site has informed us of a recent, fatal case of cryptic, cerebral P. falciparum malaria in a 4-year old Italian girl, observed at the General Hospital in Brescia. A ProMED report of this case is available (an original and follow-up report) available at https://www.promedmail.org/post/5295982 and https://www.promedmail.org/post/5298885 respectively. Where did this child acquire her malaria infection? The Italian Minister of Health is investigating the case. The patient had never traveled outside Italy. During her earlier hospitalization at the hospital of Trento, two patients with malaria acquired in Burkina Faso were also hospitalized. This may be a case of baggage malaria or a nosocomial malaria infection (blood inoculum if standard precautions are breached) or, even an autochthonous transmission by local Italian mosquitoes. Malaria infection through mosquito bite seems unlikely in the Trento area. Molecular analysis of the Plasmodium strain may provide information about the possible source of infection. Several cases of nosocomial malaria transmission have been reported in the past in the EU and in the US. Cryptic malaria is associated with a high fatality rate as there is no history of travel to regions with ongoing malaria transmission and malaria is not suspected. This tragic case highlights the risk of malaria acquisition in non-endemic areas through exposure to infected blood products, congenital transmission, laboratory exposure, or unexpected local mosquito-borne transmission
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Francesco Castelli from the Brescia site has informed us of a recent, fatal case of cryptic, cerebral P. falciparum malaria in a 4-year old Italian girl, observed at the General Hospital in Brescia. A ProMED report of this case is available (an original and follow-up report) available at https://www.promedmail.org/post/5295982 and https://www.promedmail.org/post/5298885 respectively. Where did this child acquire her malaria infection? The Italian Minister of Health is investigating the case. The patient had never traveled outside Italy. During her earlier hospitalization at the hospital of Trento, two patients with malaria acquired in Burkina Faso were also hospitalized. This may be a case of baggage malaria or a nosocomial malaria infection (blood inoculum if standard precautions are breached) or, even an autochthonous transmission by local Italian mosquitoes. Malaria infection through mosquito bite seems unlikely in the Trento area. Molecular analysis of the Plasmodium strain may provide information about the possible source of infection. Several cases of nosocomial malaria transmission have been reported in the past in the EU and in the US. Cryptic malaria is associated with a high fatality rate as there is no history of travel to regions with ongoing malaria transmission and malaria is not suspected. This tragic case highlights the risk of malaria acquisition in non-endemic areas through exposure to infected blood products, congenital transmission, laboratory exposure, or unexpected local mosquito-borne transmission