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Season, fever prevalence and pyrogenic threshold for malaria disease definition in an endemic area of Mali
Author(s) -
Dicko Alassane,
Mantel Carsten,
Kouriba Boureima,
Sagara Issaka,
Thera Mahamadou A.,
Doumbia Seydou,
Diallo Mouctar,
Poudiougou Belco,
Diakite Mahamadou,
Doumbo Ogobara K.
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
tropical medicine and international health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.056
H-Index - 114
eISSN - 1365-3156
pISSN - 1360-2276
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-3156.2005.01418.x
Subject(s) - malaria , wet season , dry season , plasmodium falciparum , veterinary medicine , biology , immunology , medicine , ecology
Summary Background Modelling malaria parasitaemia as function of fever has been proposed as best alternative to estimate the attributable fraction of malaria fever and the sensitivity and specificity of different case definitions of malaria disease. Objectives To determine the prevalence of fever and its relation to malaria parasitaemia and to establish a pyrogenic threshold for malaria disease in the area. Methods We conducted two cross‐sectional surveys in children of 6 months to 9 years of age (2434 during the rainy season of 1993 and 2353 during the dry season of 1994) randomly selected from 21 areas of Bandiagara district, Mali. Results The relationship between fever and Plasmodium falciparum parasitaemia depends strongly on the season, thus affecting the malaria‐attributable fraction of fever cases and the sensitivity and specificity of malaria case definitions. The overall proportion of fever attributable to malaria parasitaemia was 33.6% during the rainy season and 23.3% during the dry season, with the highest proportion occurring among the youngest children. The cut‐off value, where the sensitivity curve crosses the specificity curve, was around 3200 pf/ μ l for all age categories during the rainy season and 200 pf/ μ l during the dry season. Conclusions Malaria remains a main cause of fever in this area of Mali. The pyrogenic threshold of parasitaemia depends strongly on the season, and different cut‐off levels of parasitaemia should be used during the two seasons to define malaria cases in this area.