A Case of Plasmodium falciparum Malaria with a Prolonged Incubation Period of Four Years

Abstract

With increased global travel, unique diseases from different parts of the world pose a new category of differential diagnosis, and an incubation period of different infectious diseases helps narrow differential diagnosis to point to one specific etiology. The normal incubation period of Plasmodium falciparum malaria is 7-40 days. We report a case of symptomatic P. falciparum malaria that manifested four years after a visit to a malaria-endemic area in a 51- year-old female patient. Our case illustrates the importance of a broad differential with regard to infectious disease including remote travel history and raises questions of the survival of P. falciparum for four years despite the administration of traditional chemoprophylactic agents.