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Increasing prevalence of infectious diseases in asylum seekers at a tertiary care hospital in Switzerland.
PLoS One. 2017; 12(6):e0179537.Plos

Abstract

OBJECTIVE

The increasing number of refugees seeking asylum in Europe in recent years poses new challenges for the healthcare systems in the destination countries. The goal of the study was to describe the evolution of medical problems of asylum seekers at a tertiary care centre in Switzerland.

METHODS

At the University Hospital Basel, we compared all asylum seekers during two 1-year time periods in 2004/05 and 2014/15 concerning demographic characteristics and reasons for referrals and hospitalizations.

RESULTS

Hundred ninety five of 2'544 and 516 of 6'243 asylum seekers registered at the national asylum reception and procedure centre Basel were referred to the University Hospital Basel in 2004/05 and 2014/15, and originated mainly from Europe (62.3%, mainly Turkey) and Africa (49.1%, mainly Eritrea), respectively. Median age was similar in both study periods (26.9 and 26.2 years). Infectious diseases in asylum seekers increased from 22.6% to 36.6% (p<0.001) and were the main reasons for hospitalizations (33.3% of 45 and 55.6% of 81 hospitalized patients, p = 0.017) in 2004/05 compared to 2014/15. The leading infectious diseases in hospitalized patients were tuberculosis (n = 4) and bacterial skin infections (n = 2) in 2004/05; Malaria (n = 9), pneumonia (n = 6), Chickenpox (n = 5), other viral infections (n = 5) and bacterial skin infections (n = 5) in 2014/15. Infectious diseases like malaria, cutaneous diphtheria, louseborne-relapsing fever or scabies were only found in the second study period. Almost one third of the admitted asylum seekers required isolation precautions with median duration of 6-9.5 days in both study periods.

CONCLUSIONS

The changing demography of asylum seekers arriving in Switzerland in the current refugee crisis has led to a shift in disease patterns with an increase of infectious diseases and the re-emergence of migration-associated neglected infections. Physicians should be aware of these new challenges.

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Authors+Show Affiliations

Bloch-Infanger C
Division of Infectious Diseases & Hospital Epidemiology, University Hospital Basel, University Basel, Basel, Switzerland. Departement of Internal Medicine, Kantonsspital Uri, Altdorf, Switzerland.
Bättig V
Division of Infectious Diseases & Hospital Epidemiology, University Hospital Basel, University Basel, Basel, Switzerland.
Kremo J
Private Medical Office, Basel, Switzerland.
Widmer AF
Division of Infectious Diseases & Hospital Epidemiology, University Hospital Basel, University Basel, Basel, Switzerland.
Egli A
Division of Clinical Microbiology, University Hospital Basel, University Basel, Basel, Switzerland.
Bingisser R
Departement of Emergency, University Hospital Basel, University Basel, Basel, Switzerland.
Battegay M
Division of Infectious Diseases & Hospital Epidemiology, University Hospital Basel, University Basel, Basel, Switzerland.
Erb S
Division of Infectious Diseases & Hospital Epidemiology, University Hospital Basel, University Basel, Basel, Switzerland.

MeSH

AdultChickenpoxFemaleHumansMalariaMalePneumoniaPrevalenceRefugeesSkin Diseases, BacterialSwitzerlandTertiary Care CentersTuberculosis

Pub Type(s)

Clinical Trial
Journal Article

Language

eng

PubMed ID

28617860

Citation

Bloch-Infanger, Constantine, et al. "Increasing Prevalence of Infectious Diseases in Asylum Seekers at a Tertiary Care Hospital in Switzerland." PloS One, vol. 12, no. 6, 2017, pp. e0179537.
Bloch-Infanger C, Bättig V, Kremo J, et al. Increasing prevalence of infectious diseases in asylum seekers at a tertiary care hospital in Switzerland. PLoS One. 2017;12(6):e0179537.
Bloch-Infanger, C., Bättig, V., Kremo, J., Widmer, A. F., Egli, A., Bingisser, R., Battegay, M., & Erb, S. (2017). Increasing prevalence of infectious diseases in asylum seekers at a tertiary care hospital in Switzerland. PloS One, 12(6), e0179537. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0179537
Bloch-Infanger C, et al. Increasing Prevalence of Infectious Diseases in Asylum Seekers at a Tertiary Care Hospital in Switzerland. PLoS One. 2017;12(6):e0179537. PubMed PMID: 28617860.
* Article titles in AMA citation format should be in sentence-case
TY - JOUR T1 - Increasing prevalence of infectious diseases in asylum seekers at a tertiary care hospital in Switzerland. AU - Bloch-Infanger,Constantine, AU - Bättig,Veronika, AU - Kremo,Jürg, AU - Widmer,Andreas F, AU - Egli,Adrian, AU - Bingisser,Roland, AU - Battegay,Manuel, AU - Erb,Stefan, Y1 - 2017/06/15/ PY - 2016/11/19/received PY - 2017/05/29/accepted PY - 2017/6/16/entrez PY - 2017/6/16/pubmed PY - 2017/9/14/medline SP - e0179537 EP - e0179537 JF - PloS one JO - PLoS One VL - 12 IS - 6 N2 - OBJECTIVE: The increasing number of refugees seeking asylum in Europe in recent years poses new challenges for the healthcare systems in the destination countries. The goal of the study was to describe the evolution of medical problems of asylum seekers at a tertiary care centre in Switzerland. METHODS: At the University Hospital Basel, we compared all asylum seekers during two 1-year time periods in 2004/05 and 2014/15 concerning demographic characteristics and reasons for referrals and hospitalizations. RESULTS: Hundred ninety five of 2'544 and 516 of 6'243 asylum seekers registered at the national asylum reception and procedure centre Basel were referred to the University Hospital Basel in 2004/05 and 2014/15, and originated mainly from Europe (62.3%, mainly Turkey) and Africa (49.1%, mainly Eritrea), respectively. Median age was similar in both study periods (26.9 and 26.2 years). Infectious diseases in asylum seekers increased from 22.6% to 36.6% (p<0.001) and were the main reasons for hospitalizations (33.3% of 45 and 55.6% of 81 hospitalized patients, p = 0.017) in 2004/05 compared to 2014/15. The leading infectious diseases in hospitalized patients were tuberculosis (n = 4) and bacterial skin infections (n = 2) in 2004/05; Malaria (n = 9), pneumonia (n = 6), Chickenpox (n = 5), other viral infections (n = 5) and bacterial skin infections (n = 5) in 2014/15. Infectious diseases like malaria, cutaneous diphtheria, louseborne-relapsing fever or scabies were only found in the second study period. Almost one third of the admitted asylum seekers required isolation precautions with median duration of 6-9.5 days in both study periods. CONCLUSIONS: The changing demography of asylum seekers arriving in Switzerland in the current refugee crisis has led to a shift in disease patterns with an increase of infectious diseases and the re-emergence of migration-associated neglected infections. Physicians should be aware of these new challenges. SN - 1932-6203 UR - https://www.unboundmedicine.com/medline/citation/28617860/Increasing_prevalence_of_infectious_diseases_in_asylum_seekers_at_a_tertiary_care_hospital_in_Switzerland_ L2 - https://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0179537 DB - PRIME DP - Unbound Medicine ER -