Biomedical subjects

Fabrice Legros

Publications and source records attributed to Fabrice Legros.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2005

[Epidemiology of malaria].

Four parasite species, among which one lethal, at least 20 efficient vectors, spread on the most crowded and underdeveloped continents, where first antimalarials and insecticides were so extensively used for decades that they are now inefficient after resistances. It is today the sad medium on which malaria raged, spring of 1 million deaths and 300 millions cases a year, of which 90% in sub-Saharan Africa. In Africa, epidemiological patterns are widely different some to others, which explain unique control strategy failure and vanity. Waiting vaccines and new drugs, control must be centred on vectors control and multidrug therapy. France is the industrialised country with the highest number of imported cases (approximately equal to 7000 cases yearly), linked mainly to P. falciparum coming from sub-Saharan Africa and recurring in nearly 3/4 of cases in immigrants.

Animals↗

PubMed2005

[Malaria: what about exposure prophylaxis?].

Malaria would not exist without mosquito bites. The growing resistance to antimalarial drugs has led to an increasing role of personal protection measures. However, insect repellents are not evaluated as medicinal products, and many products available on the market contain active substances that have been poorly evaluated or present in insufficient doses. The efficacy of the most active insect repellents, DEET and icaridin/KBR 3023, like that of medicinal products, is limited by the subject's compliance, bearing in mind that the Anopheles bite is painless and that humans are primarily bothered by the nuisance factor of the mosquito.

Animals↗

PubMed2005

[Malaria chemoprophylaxis in 2005: new policy, new drugs].

For a traveller visiting highly endemic areas for malaria (mainly sub-Saharan Africa), the use of a chemoprophylaxis has to be considered as mandatory in addition to exposure prophylaxis measures (including in migrants largely over-represented among returning travellers with imported malaria). The choice of the appropriate drug depends mainly on the visited area with regard to the level of resistance to chloroquine. Due to the spread of resistance, 7 countries along the West African coast between Senegal and Côte d'Ivoire moved in 2005 from zone 2 to zone 3 (according to the French classification). Recently available and recommanded in zones 2 and 3, the atovaquone+proguanil combination appears to be of great interest due to a good tolerance and an intake limited to the 7 days following return. Alternatively to mefloquine or atovaquone+proguanil, the well tolerated and cheap doxycycline is a good choice but due to its short half life a full compliance is mandatory. In case of fever, even if a chemoprophylaxis is taken, malaria can develop, sometimes with atypical presentations, and has to be systematically considered.

Antimalarials↗