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Volume 20, Number 4—April 2014
Research

Regional Variation in Travel-related Illness acquired in Africa, March 1997–May 2011

Marc MendelsonComments to Author , Pauline V. Han, Peter Vincent, Frank von Sonnenburg, Jakob P. Cramer, Louis Loutan, Kevin C. Kain, Philippe Parola, Stefan Hagmann, Effrossyni Gkrania-Klotsas, Mark Sotir, Patricia Schlagenhauf, and for the GeoSentinel Surveillance Network
Author affiliations: University of Cape Town Groote Schuur Hospital, Cape Town, South Africa (M. Mendelson); Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, USA (P.V. Han, M. Sotir); Tokai Medicross Travel Clinic, Cape Town (P. Vincent); University of Munich, Munich, Germany (F. von Sonnenburg); University Medical Center, Hamburg-Eppendorf, Germany (J.P. Cramer); University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland (L. Loutan); University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada (K.C. Kain); Assitance Publique Hôpitaux de Marseille–North University Hospital, Marseille, France (P. Parola); Yeshiva University Bronx-Lebanon Hospital Center, Bronx, New York, USA (S. Hagmann); Cambridge University Hospitals National Health Service Trust, Cambridge, UK (E. Gkrania-Klotsas); University of Zurich Centre for Travel Medicine, Zurich, Switzerland (P. Schlagenhauf)

Main Article

Table 4

Nonmalarial illness among travelers returning from Africa who were seen at GeoSentinel clinic sites, March 1997–May 2011*

Illness/incident No. travelers
Total Region visited before illness
Central Africa Eastern Africa Northern Africa Southern Africa Western Africa
Parasitic infection by helminths
Schistosomes 530 42 278 41 22 147
Unknown spp. 274 27 129 22 13 83
Schistosoma mansoni 147 9 89 14 5 30
S. haematobium 118 7 66 5 5 35
Filaria
Strongyloides 195 34 78 13 6 64
Simple intestinal 191 34 78 12 6 61
Hyperinfection 4 0 0 1 0 3
Non-Strongyloides 140 102 6 1 1 30
Loa loa 86 82 1 0 0 3
Onchocerca volvulus 21 12 0 0 0 9
Other 31 9 4 0 1 17
Wucheria bancrofti
 4
 1
 1
 1
 0
 1
Vaccine-preventable disease 146 9 47 37 7 46
Hepatitis A 59 3 14 28 1 13
Influenza 24 0 11 4 2 7
Measles 5 0 0 1 3 1
Typhoid fever†
 58
 6
 22
 4
 1
 25
Bite wounds‡ 193 5 47 105 11 25
Bite wounds necessitating rabies 
prophylaxis 184 4 38 107 13 22
Source of bite
Dog 91 4 17 52 7 11
Cat 46 0 8 36 0 2
Other¶
 56
 1
 22
 17
 4
 12
Dengue (uncomplicated)
 113
 6
 46
 5
 8
 48
Tuberculosis 86 2 33 16 4 31
Pulmonary 43 2 14 14 2 11
Extrapulmonary 24 0 13 0 0 11
Miliary, disseminated 13 0 4 1 2 6
Meningitis 5 0 2 1 0 2
Multidrug resistant#
 1
 0
 0
 0
 0
 1
Acute HIV infection 44 4 21 0 5 14

*The United Nations geoscheme was used to classify Africa into subregions (5).
†Salmonella enterica serotype Typhi.
‡Two travelers returning from Northern Africa and 2 returning from Southern Africa for whom bite wounds were not registered received rabies postexposure prophylaxis.
¶Other bites: monkey (23 bites); snake (3); rat (2); human, horse, puff adder, rabbit arthropoda, baboon, bat, hamster, leech, mangout, mouse, scolopendra, squirrel (1 each), missing data (14).
#Resistance to rifampin and isoniazid.

Main Article

1Contributing members of the GeoSentinel Surveillance Network are listed at the end of this article.

Page created: March 12, 2014
Page updated: March 12, 2014
Page reviewed: March 12, 2014
The conclusions, findings, and opinions expressed by authors contributing to this journal do not necessarily reflect the official position of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Public Health Service, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or the authors' affiliated institutions. Use of trade names is for identification only and does not imply endorsement by any of the groups named above.
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