A Report on Prevalence of Malaria Infection in General Population of Bajaur Agency, FATA, Pakistan
A Report on Prevalence of Malaria Infection in General Population of Bajaur Agency, FATA, Pakistan
Ajmal Khan* and Rehan Ullah
ABSTRACT
The present study was conducted from January 2013 to December of the same calendar year to cover all the four seasons. The data of this descriptive study was processed and analyzed to investigate the prevalence of malaria and its specific aetiologic agents in suspected patients reported to various laboratories of Agency Head Quarter Hospital Khar, Bajaur Agency. In this study, a total number of 9720 suspected individuals were examined; among which 1273 (13.1%) were found to be positive for malaria infection with different Plasmodium species in their blood smears. Male population accounts for higher prevalence rate (14.59%) than female (11.24%). The infection was more prevalent in November (21.4%), December (21.1%) and October (18%) and was lowest in the month of April (6.7%). The highest prevalence was recorded in autumn (36.8%) and summer (30.3%) and the lowest rate of infection was observed in spring (10.1%). Majority of the malarial cases were due to P. vivax, which was the most common species; P. falciparum was less common species and mix cases of infection due to both P. vivax and P. falciparum were rare. Majority of the people with age group above 15 years were more infected (14.07%). Such a highest incidence and prevalence of the infection revealed that malaria poses a great public health problem in the area, so Government and Health Authorities should pay attention on preventing and controlling the infection.
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February 2019
Vol. 51, Iss. 1, Pages 1-398
