Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene

abstract After a long period of endemicity until the 1950s, the World Health Organization con-sidered autochthonous malaria eliminated from Reunion in 1979. To prevent secondarytransmission and re-emergence of autochthonous malaria, permanent epidemiologic andentomological surveillance and vector control measures are conducted.The objective of this study is to report sociodemographic characteristics of importedmalaria patients and incidence rates from 2003–2008 using mandatory notification withthe aim of identifying risk groups and destinations.Duringthisperiod,684importedmalariacaseswerereported.Medianageofpatientswas34.4yearsand22.1%werechildren≤15years.Menrepresented67.7%ofcasesand59.1%ofpatients reported having taken chemoprophylaxis based on chloroquine alone. Incidenceof malaria was considerably different by country destination. For Comoros, incidence wasstable and high during the period accounting for 1481 cases per 100000 travels in 2008.TheratewaslowerfortravelstoMadagascar,SouthAfricaandMayotteanddecreasedoverthe period to 37, 19 and 3 per 100000 respectively, by 2008.To avoid re-emergence of malaria on the island and to protect themselves, travelersshould reduce their risks of acquisition and importation of parasites by using adequatepreventive measures. A special preventive program and social mobilisation should be apriority, essentially for the Comorian community in Reunion.© 2009 Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of Royal Society of Tropical Medicine andHygiene.