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2.5 billion people, 40% of the world's population, are at risk of malaria.

Between 300 & 500 million people develop malaria every year.

Close to 2 million people die as a result, most of them children.

Every 30 seconds a child dies from malaria

(WHO 2007)

http://www.who.int/features/factfiles/malaria/en/ 

Improved means and cheaper travel has made the world a smaller place. More and more people are travelling further afield to exotic countries and encountering parasitic and infectious diseases unknown or rare in their own country of residence. 

Global warming, the effects?   There may be a net increase in the geographic range of potential transmission of malaria and dengue; two vector-borne infections each of which currently impinge on 40-50% of the world population.   Diagnostic laboratories may therefore see an increase in the number of imported cases of malaria found in travellers returning from tropical destinations. On the other hand, global warming may well be good for the UK's economy, with more tourists and better wine-producing conditions.  The prospect of climate change begs the question,  will the UK ever return to the Malarious Middle Ages? Both British species of Anopheline mosquitoes (An. plumbeus & An. atroparvus) are capable of transmitting P. vivax and P. falciparum. A rise in summer temperatures in the UK would increase the likelihood of completion of the sporogonic cycle in gametocyte-fed wild Anopheline species, but a reduction in summer rainfall would reduce the numbers of wet tree holes in which these mosquitoes could breed.

For the year 2007 The Malaria Reference Laboratory, London received 1,548 notifications of malaria imported to the UK. Of these,  1,139 were identified as Plasmodium falciparum and 14 as P. falciparum + another plasmodia species.

 Five deaths were reported among the 1,548  cases.   Any Haematologist can be called upon to diagnose malaria in their own laboratory. Patients with other tropical parasitic infections such as filariasis, trypanosomiasis and leishmaniasis may also present in general hospitals.

Participation in the UK NEQAS Parasitology Teaching Programme can help to increase both familiarity with a range of parasites and promote self-confidence in the accuracy of personal performance and laboratory reports.