Naples hospital treats 12-year-old with imported malaria

A 12-year-old girl from Nigeria is receiving treatment at the Santobono pediatric hospital in Naples after testing positive for malaria. The child, who arrived in Italy via a humanitarian corridor to undergo surgery for severe scoliosis, was found to have traces of the disease during preliminary examinations.

Medical officials state that the condition is not serious, the patient is asymptomatic, and the case is not infectious to humans, as malaria requires transmission via specific mosquitoes found in Africa. Samples have been sent to the Cotugno Hospital, the regional reference center for infectious diseases, for confirmatory testing.

The girl's spinal surgery is currently on hold until her clinical situation is fully assessed. This marks the second recent case of malaria at Santobono; a 14-year-old resident of Italy also recently recovered after contracting a more aggressive form of the disease while visiting family in Africa.