baggage malaria

n.

Malaria contracted from the bite of a mosquito inadvertently transported from a malarial region in a person's baggage.

Example Citations:

Babbage malaria: The possibility of carrying infective mosquitoes within pieces of baggage to non-endemic areas or to areas far from international airports has been suspected in a number of previous cases. ... In this scenario, the mosquito was carried in the baggage from Ivory Coast to Berlin, infected the index case before or during travel or at home in Berlin and then — after being transported to the hospital — infected the secondary patient.

—Thomas Zoller et al., " Malaria transmission in non-endemic areas: http://www.malariajournal.com/content/8/1/71," Malaria Journal, April 20, 2009

Cryptic malaria occurs very infrequently. Since 2002, only seven cases of malaria, caused by P. falciparum, have been identified that had no explanatory travel history. On investigation, these were classified as probable airport malaria (one), possible baggage malaria (two), nosocomial transmission (one known and one probable) , transfusion (one) and one has remained unexplained.

—" Cryptic malaria: http://www.hpa.org.uk/Topics/InfectiousDiseases/InfectionsAZ/Malaria/Guidelines/mala30guidelinesCryptic/," Health Protection Agency, February 3, 2011

Earliest Citation:

This case suggests that infected mosquitoes can reach areas far distant from international airports in baggage packed in regions with a high density of infected Anopheles.

—F Castelli et al., " 'Baggage malaria' in Italy: cryptic malaria explained?: http://www.cabdirect.org/abstracts/19940502501.html," Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, July 1, 1993

Notes:

Variations on this theme include suitcase malaria and luggage malaria, and more generally airport malaria and even minibus malaria. All malarias where the infected mosquito has had to make a somewhat heroic (albeit accidental) journey have been grouped, rather poetically, under the rubric Odyssean malaria:

We propose, therefore, to accommodate all transport related forms of malaria acquired in non-endemic areas through the bites of adventurous imported mosquitoes, in a group named Odyssean malaria (table). Like the Greek hero of old, mosquitoes undertake distant and dangerous journeys, sometimes in or on unlikely vehicles. At their final destination they may transmit malaria or other infections to their unwitting human victims. As additional means of transport that convey malaria-infected mosquitoes are identified and introduced into published work, they could be added to the Odyssean malaria category.

—John A. Frean and Margaretha Isaacson, " African malaria vectors in European aircraft: http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(05)71340-4/fulltext," The Lancet, January 20, 2001

Related Words:

adulticide

community spread

disease cluster

superinfector

Categories:

Travel and Tourism

Diseases and Syndromes

Medicine