Open AccessRapid Assessment of Prevalence of Malaria among Patients of a Referral Hospital in Oweri South East Nigeria
Author(s) -
Ajero Chigbo Medo U
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
journal of diagnosis and case reports
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2754-4923
DOI - 10.47363/jdcrs/2022(3)128
Subject(s) - malaria , medicine , referral , rapid diagnostic test , plasmodium falciparum , public health , environmental health , pediatrics , demography , immunology , family medicine , sociology , nursing
Malaria has social consequences and exerts a heavy burden on economic development in Nigeria. This study was undertaken to determine the prevalence of malaria among out and in patients attending a referral hospital in Owerri South-East Nigeria between January and October 2019. Two hundred and thirty-five patients consisting of 114 males and 121 females were engaged in the study after obtaining their consent. Capillary blood samples were collected from finger-pricked blood using Rapid Diagnostic Test kit (ICT COMBO, Core Diagnostic, U.K) for detection of Plasmodium falciparum and pan malaria antigen Pf/Pan for non-falciparum species. The data were collated and analysed with descriptive and chi-square statistics with significance set at 0.5. The result recorded an overall malaria prevalence of 62.55%. Female patients had significantly higher (77.72%) malaria prevalence than males (51.75%) (p 0.05). The result reveals an active transmission of malaria parasites which constitute a public health burden. There is a need for improved effort in the prevention and control of this scourge.