Increasing Prevalence of Plasmodium vivax Among Febrile Patients in Nouakchott, Mauritania

The occurrence of Plasmodium vivax malaria was reported in Nouakchott, Mauritania in the 1990s. Several studies have suggested the frequent occurrence of P. vivax malaria among Nouakchott residents, including those without recent travel history to the southern part of the country where malaria is known to be endemic. To further consolidate the evidence for P. vivax endemicity and the extent of malaria burden in one district in the city of Nouakchott, febrile illnesses were monitored in 2012-2013 in the Teyarett health center. The number of laboratory-confirmed P. vivax cases has attained more than 2,000 cases in 2013. Malaria transmission occurs locally, and P. vivax is diagnosed throughout the year. Plasmodium vivax malaria is endemic in Nouakchott and largely predominates over Plasmodium falciparum. Malaria has been known to be endemic, with occasional and sometimes deadly epidemics, in the Sahelian southern Mauritania, bordering Senegal and Mali, two West African countries where malaria has been endemic for centuries. 1 In one of the first epidemiological studies on malaria conducted during the colonial period in 1945-1946 along the Senegal River that forms a natural boundary between Senegal and Mauritania, Plasmodium falciparum (133 of 180 positive smears, 74%) largely predominated over Plasmodium vivax (8%) and Plasmodium malariae (18%). 2 The primary vector was reported to be Anopheles gambiae sensu lato in that study. However, two further studies conducted in southern Mauritania in the 1960s did not confirm the presence of P. vivax, and of the two human malaria species found, P. falciparum largely predominated over P. malariae. 3,4 The