ABSTRACT

Malaria is a worldwide infection causing serious health and financial problems. Turkey is in the elimination phase, and malaria cases have been observed in patients who have come from abroad recently. In this study, 2 relapsed Plasmodium vivax (Pv) cases that returned from Afghanistan to our country at least 6 months ago were presented. The first case had received irregular chemoprophylaxis during travel, 6 months after returning to Turkey occurred malaria clinic. The second case had not received chemoprophlaxis during his travel, and he had experienced 2 previous episodes of malaria. He had used inappropriate anti-malarial drugs before returning to Turkey. Two separate incubation periods for P. vivax and P. ovale have been described. One of them is defined as late infection, or relapse, which is maturation of dormant bacilli in the liver, known as the hypnozoite stage. We thought that relapses of Pv infection could result from activation of hypnozoites in these cases. These 2 cases were treated with chloroquine and primaquine. The purpose of presenting these 2 cases is that primaquine should be considered for primer prophylaxis in short travels, especially after traveling to endemic areas, and the patient’s relapse should be considered. (Turkiye Parazitol Derg 2014; 38: 120-3)

Keywords: Plasmodium vivax, prophylaxis, primaquine phosphate, recurrence, travel