Yafet Kesete*, Meron Tesfay and Shewit Mihretab
Background: Malaria afflicts more than 90 countries in the tropical and subtropical region in which more than half of cases are present in Sub-Saharan Africa. Studying its prevalence is necessary to implement effective control measures. Therefore, this study was conducted to determine the three-year prevalence of malaria from peripheral blood smear examination.
Methods: A retrospective study was conducted from September 2016 to August 2019. All demographic details of subjects and positive malaria cases data were collected from laboratory registration book.
Results: The overall prevalence of smear positive malaria cases was 33·0%. Males (58·19%) were more prone to have a positive malaria smear than females (41·8%). A higher prevalence of malaria was observed in the adult age group (35%) compared with children under 5 years old children (27%). The highest prevalence of malaria cases was found in the year 2016 (48·8%) and 2017 (41%). High slide positive rate was seen in summer (40%) and autumn (39·52%). Months of July (45%) and September (40·6%) were noted to have the maximum number of cases. Plasmodium vivax constituted the most predominant malaria infections (78.06%), while P. falciparum was also present (21·26 %). Almost around 70% of cases were reported from patients living in and at the peripheries of Nakfa town.
Conclusion: Marked reduction trends were observed in morbidity related to malaria throughout the study years. However, vigilant surveillance is required especially during malaria transmission peaks from July to October which also overlap with harvesting seasons.
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Journal of Blood & Lymph received 443 citations as per Google Scholar report
