Evidence-based public health and prospects for malaria control in Brazil

Author(s)

Ferreira, Marcelo Urbano ^[1] ; da Silva-Nunes, Monica ^[2]

Affiliation

^[1] Univ Sao Paulo, Dept Parasitol, Inst Ciencias Biomed, BR-05508900 Sao Paulo - Brazil

^[2] Univ Fed Acre, Ctr Ciencias Saude & Desporto, BR-69915900 Rio Branco, AC - Brazil

• Document type: Review article
• Source: JOURNAL OF INFECTION IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES; v. 4, n. 9, p. 533-545, SEP 2010.
• Web of Science Citations: 12

Abstract

Despite intensive control efforts over the past decades, Brazil still accounts for more than 50% of the malaria burden in the Americas and the Caribbean, with 458,041 slide-confirmed cases reported countrywide in 2007. The reason malaria has proved so difficult to control in this middle-income country with a reasonable health infrastructure remains unclear. Here we examine whether four strategies that were largely successful in other countries (aggressive active case detection, improved anti-relapse therapy for P. vivax infections, distribution of insecticide-treated bed nets, and selective house spraying with residual insecticides) are likely to work in Brazil. We review evidence from field and laboratory studies and identify gaps in our knowledge that require further investigation with well-designed large-scale trials. (AU)