Abstract

BETANZOS-REYES, Ángel Francisco; GONZALEZ-CERON, Lilia; RODRIGUEZ, Mario Henry  and  TORRES-MONZON, Jorge Aurelio. Seroepidemiología del paludismo en un grupo de migrantes en tránsito (Chiapas, 2008). Salud pública Méx [online]. 2012, vol.54, n.5, pp.523-529. ISSN 0036-3634.

OBJECTIVE: To know the prevalence of malaria and the factors associated with the infection in migrants in the southern border of Mexico, during 2008. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In 706 migrants, active malaria infection was investigated using a rapid diagnostic test and PCR and past infection using serology. A questionnaire was applied to investigate the conditions associated to infection. RESULTS: 85.6% originated from Central America, none presented an active infection, although 4.2% were seropositive, most of these came from the countries with the highest malaria incidence in the region. Seropositivity was associated with the number of previous malaria episodes (OR=1.44; IC95% 1.04-2.00), years living in their community of origin (OR=1.03; IC95% 1.00-1.07), and knowledge and self-medication with anti-malaria drugs (OR=3.38; IC95% 1.48-7.67). CONCLUSIONS:. The previous exposure of migrants and the difficulties for their detection indicate the need of new strategies for the epidemiological surveillance for these populations.

Keywords : Malaria; migrants; serology; epidemiology; south-ern Mexican border; Chiapas, Mexico.

        · abstract in Spanish     · text in Spanish     · Spanish ( pdf )