A volunteer receives training on how to dress and de-dress personal protective equipments, which is aimed to deal with the Ebola disease in West Africa, at a training center of Doctor Without Borders (Medecins Sans Frontieres) in Brussels of Belgium, Nov. 7, 2014. (Xinhua/Ye Pingfan)

LONDON, Oct. 25 (Xinhua) -- France and Britain saw the highest average number of imported malaria cases per year over the past decade, according to a study released Tuesday by the University of Southampton.

The international study led by WorldPop, a research team based at the University of Southampton, analyzed the movement of malaria infections from endemic countries to some 40 countries that are deemed as malaria-free or non-endemic.

Among the malaria-free countries, France and Britain has the highest average number of imported infections each year over the past decade, standing at 2,169 and 1,898 respectively. Countries like U.S., Italy and Germany recorded significant number of cases as well.

Of all the malaria cases detected in the malaria-free countries, the team found that 56 percent originated from West Africa.

"Imported malaria can be expensive to treat, contribute to drug resistance, sometimes cause secondary local transmission and threaten the long-term goal of eradication, " said one of the study authors Andrew Tatem, who is Director of WorldPop and a professor at the University of Southampton.

"This study forms part of wider efforts to understand patterns of human and malaria parasite movement to help guide elimination strategies," said Tatem.

The study has been published in the journal The Lancet Infectious Diseases.