Malaria--a disease of travellers.

The number of people travelling to regions with hot climate such as Asia, Africa and South America increases steadily every year. The reason for travel varies greatly, from business trips to tourist excursions, the latter definitely prevailing. There has been an increase in travel to destinations where exposure to vector-borne, food- and water-borne, air-borne or sexually transmitted pathogens is common. As one of vector-borne diseases, malaria poses as a serious health hazard to local as well as immigrant populations. Over 40% of the world's inhabitants live in malaria-endemic regions. Although highly developed countries of North America and Europe are generally free from endemic malaria foci, numerous cases of imported infections are observed. Some cases of malaria are also reported in Poland, they are usually brought by persons returning from tropical regions in Africa, Asia, South America, Australia and Oceania. The number of cases depends on the destination as well as on the use or rejection of chemoprophylaxis. The article provides general information on epidemiology, pathogenesis, clinical manifestation and diagnosis of malaria. Emphasis has been put on treatment as well as on chemoprophylaxis of the disease, which are changing relatively quickly, what is mainly related to increasing Plasmodium resistance to applied medicines.