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Prevalence of Malaria from Blood Smears Examination: A Three-Year Retrospective Study from Nakfa Hospital, Eritrea

Received: 2 April 2022     Accepted: 15 April 2022     Published: 28 July 2022
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Abstract

Background: Malaria afflicts more than 90 countries in the tropical and subtropical region in which more than half of the cases are present in Sub-Saharan Africa. Assessing its geographical and temporal prevalence is necessary to implement effective control measures. Therefore, the aim of this study is to determine a three-year prevalence of malaria from peripheral blood smear examination. Methods: A retrospective study was carried out in Nakfa Hospital, northern Eritrea, using data recorded from September 2016 to August 2019. All demographic details of subjects and positive malaria case note were obtained from patient admission and laboratory registers. 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 also observed 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.

Published in World Journal of Public Health (Volume 7, Issue 3)
DOI 10.11648/j.wjph.20220703.11
Page(s) 94-98
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Plasmodium, Artemisinin, Falciparum, Vivax

References
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  • APA Style

    Yafet Kesete, Meron Tesfay, Shewit Mihretab. (2022). Prevalence of Malaria from Blood Smears Examination: A Three-Year Retrospective Study from Nakfa Hospital, Eritrea. World Journal of Public Health, 7(3), 94-98. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.wjph.20220703.11

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    ACS Style

    Yafet Kesete; Meron Tesfay; Shewit Mihretab. Prevalence of Malaria from Blood Smears Examination: A Three-Year Retrospective Study from Nakfa Hospital, Eritrea. World J. Public Health 2022, 7(3), 94-98. doi: 10.11648/j.wjph.20220703.11

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    AMA Style

    Yafet Kesete, Meron Tesfay, Shewit Mihretab. Prevalence of Malaria from Blood Smears Examination: A Three-Year Retrospective Study from Nakfa Hospital, Eritrea. World J Public Health. 2022;7(3):94-98. doi: 10.11648/j.wjph.20220703.11

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  • @article{10.11648/j.wjph.20220703.11,
      author = {Yafet Kesete and Meron Tesfay and Shewit Mihretab},
      title = {Prevalence of Malaria from Blood Smears Examination: A Three-Year Retrospective Study from Nakfa Hospital, Eritrea},
      journal = {World Journal of Public Health},
      volume = {7},
      number = {3},
      pages = {94-98},
      doi = {10.11648/j.wjph.20220703.11},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.wjph.20220703.11},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.wjph.20220703.11},
      abstract = {Background: Malaria afflicts more than 90 countries in the tropical and subtropical region in which more than half of the cases are present in Sub-Saharan Africa. Assessing its geographical and temporal prevalence is necessary to implement effective control measures. Therefore, the aim of this study is to determine a three-year prevalence of malaria from peripheral blood smear examination. Methods: A retrospective study was carried out in Nakfa Hospital, northern Eritrea, using data recorded from September 2016 to August 2019. All demographic details of subjects and positive malaria case note were obtained from patient admission and laboratory registers. 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 also observed 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.},
     year = {2022}
    }
    

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  • TY  - JOUR
    T1  - Prevalence of Malaria from Blood Smears Examination: A Three-Year Retrospective Study from Nakfa Hospital, Eritrea
    AU  - Yafet Kesete
    AU  - Meron Tesfay
    AU  - Shewit Mihretab
    Y1  - 2022/07/28
    PY  - 2022
    N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.wjph.20220703.11
    DO  - 10.11648/j.wjph.20220703.11
    T2  - World Journal of Public Health
    JF  - World Journal of Public Health
    JO  - World Journal of Public Health
    SP  - 94
    EP  - 98
    PB  - Science Publishing Group
    SN  - 2637-6059
    UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.wjph.20220703.11
    AB  - Background: Malaria afflicts more than 90 countries in the tropical and subtropical region in which more than half of the cases are present in Sub-Saharan Africa. Assessing its geographical and temporal prevalence is necessary to implement effective control measures. Therefore, the aim of this study is to determine a three-year prevalence of malaria from peripheral blood smear examination. Methods: A retrospective study was carried out in Nakfa Hospital, northern Eritrea, using data recorded from September 2016 to August 2019. All demographic details of subjects and positive malaria case note were obtained from patient admission and laboratory registers. 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 also observed 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.
    VL  - 7
    IS  - 3
    ER  - 

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Author Information
  • Department of Laboratory Service, Nakfa Hospital, Nakfa, Eritrea

  • Department of Laboratory Service, Nakfa Hospital, Nakfa, Eritrea

  • Department of Laboratory Service, Nakfa Hospital, Nakfa, Eritrea

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