Imported Infections in Rural Mid-West United States - A Report from a Tertiary Care Center.

Meyer, Amy; Regunath, Hariharan; Rojas-Moreno, Christian; Salzer, William; Christensen, Gordon

Background There is lack of specific data on imported infections in the mid-west United States (U.S.). Methods Retrospective data on demographic and geographic data of imported infections seen by the infectious diseases clinics and consultation service from 2001-2018 was collected. Results Of the 64 infections, tuberculosis(TB) was most common [20(31.3%); pulmonary(11,55%), lymphadenopathy(8,40%), gastrointestinal(4,20%), disseminated(2,10%), and 1(5%) each of genitourinary and vertebral spine infection, 4 Human immune-deficiency virus infection and 1 echinococcosis)] followed by malaria(11,17.2%). Other infections: Cysticercosis [7,10.9%], giardiasis (4,6.3%), 3 each (4.7%) Human T-lymphotrophic Virus infection and schistosomiasis, 2 each (3.1%) leprosy, strongyloidiasis, and typhoid fever, one each (1.6%) of ascariasis, brucellosis, Chagas disease, Chikungunya virus, hepatitis A virus, echinococcosis, Japanese encephalitis virus, loiasis, paratyphoid fever, Q fever, and unspecified parasitosis. Geographic origins: Africa(26,40.6%), Asia(16,25%), Central America(11,17.2%), Europe(2,3.1%), Oceania(2,3.1%), South America(2,3.1%), and Unknown(5). More cases were seen after 2015. Conclusions With increasing tourism, it is important to educate rural mid-west healthcare professionals on travel medicine. The current COVID-19 pandemic illustrates the importance of this type of education and data accumulation now and in the future.