The prevalence of malaria and its therapeutic implication: A case study of Katcha Community

Malaria is highly endemic in tropical and subtropical regions of the world, including Nigeria. In view of this, the prevalence of malaria in Katcha community of Nupeland, was studied. The data presented were collated from Munawwarat Hospital. A total of 6,193 registered cases were treated. The medical cases were registered between January, 2000 and December, 2004 and malaria cases were identified using clinical signs and microscopy. Blood samples were collected by finger prick and the method of cheesebrough for the laboratory identification of malaria parasites was employed. Out of 6,193 treated medical cases, 3,014 (48.7%) had suffered from malaria and 3,179 (51.3%) had suffered from other medical cases. However, 138, 374, 808, 1,239, and 455 people suffered from malaria in the years 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, and 2004, respectively. Out of 1,775 treated malarial cases, 1451 (80.9%) were treated with chloroquine, while 228, 53, and 10 cases were treated with sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine, quinine, and proguanil/sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine, respectively. The malarial cases were not influenced by other medical cases (P>0.05), and there was an association among therapeutic regimens (P<0.05). Therefore, the decreased prevalence rate observed may be attributed to polypharmacy adopted in the treatment of malaria cases among Nupes. Key words: Resistance, prevalence, malaria, chloroquine, Katcha.