Clinical profile and geographical distribution of malaria patients attending a tertiary care centre in Mangaluru, South India

Abstract

Approximately 2,020 million people are exposed to the risk of contracting malaria, which accounts for 36% of the world population. 1 According to World Malaria Report, in the year 2017, 219 million cases of malaria occurred worldwide accounting for 4,35,000 deaths. Nearly 80% of these deaths were contributed by 17 countries of WHO African region and India. 2,3 India accounts for about 70% of malaria cases in South East Asia (SEA) followed by Indonesia and Myanmar. 4 In the year 2017, 0.84 million people were diagnosed with malaria in India and 194 deaths were reported. 4 ABSTRACT Background: Around 0.84 million people contracted malaria in India in the year 2017 and it resulted in 194 deaths. This study was conducted to describe the demographic and clinical profile as well as the geographical distribution of malaria patients attending a tertiary care hospital in Mangaluru. Methods: It was a record based descriptive study. All the malaria cases which were admitted from 1st May 2017 till 30th April 2018 were included in the study. QGIS software was used to plot the cases geographically. Results: A total of 97 malaria cases were present, of which 74.2% were males. The mean age of the participants was 33.4 years. Fever and chills were the most common presenting complaints (94.8% and 85.6% respectively) and thrombocytopenia was the foremost complication. Diagnosis was done using blood smear in 45 cases and rapid diagnostic kit in 59 cases. 8 patients were detected positive by both the tests. Plasmodium vivax (69%) was the most common infection. QGIS plotting of address showed that 61.4% were from Mangaluru block. Rest of the cases were from other parts of Karnataka, Kerala and Bihar. Conclusions: Malaria has a male preponderance and usually affects the economically productive age group. Thrombocytopenia was a common complication, thus necessitating close vigilance on platelet counts in malaria patients. Thick and thin blood smear is recommended to be performed to every case irrespective of their rapid diagnostic kit results. Mangaluru block accounted for 60 cases out of 97 cases which necessitates intensification of preventive measures in the block.