Prevalence of malaria infection in Butajira area, south-central Ethiopia

Abstract

BackgroundIn 2005, the Ethiopian government launched a massive expansion of the malaria prevention and control programme. The programme was aimed mainly at the reduction of malaria in populations living below 2,000 m above sea level. Global warming has been implicated in the increase in the prevalence of malaria in the highlands. However, there is still a paucity of information on the occurrence of malaria at higher altitudes. The objective of this study was to estimate malaria prevalence in highland areas of south-central Ethiopia, designated as the Butajira area.MethodsUsing a multi-stage sampling technique, 750 households were selected. All consenting family members were examined for malaria parasites in thick and thin blood smears. The assessment was repeated six times for two years (October 2008 to June 2010).ResultsIn total, 19,207 persons were examined in the six surveys. From those tested, 178 slides were positive for malaria, of which 154 (86.5%) were positive for Plasmodium vivax and 22 (12.4%) for Plasmodium falciparum; the remaining two (1.1%) showed mixed infections of Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium vivax. The incidence of malaria was higher after the main rainy season, both in lower lying and in highland areas. The incidence in the highlands was low and similar for all age groups, whereas in the lowlands, malaria occurred mostly in those of one to nine years of age.ConclusionThis study documented a low prevalence of malaria that varied with season and altitudinal zone in a highland-fringe area of Ethiopia. Most of the malaria infections were attributable to Plasmodium vivax.

Prevalence of Malaria and Associated Factors in Dilla Town and the Surrounding Rural Areas, Gedeo Zone, Southern Ethiopia

“…The present result is consistent with the study conducted among patients attending public health facilities in Maputo City, Mozambique with 15.7% of prevalence [32]; result from Pakistan, Lal Qilla visited to health care center 17.3% [33] and from Hadhramout, Yemen [34] with 18.8%. This result was higher than reports from Kemisie, Ethiopia [35], Butajira, Ethiopia [36], Bangladesh [37], and Eritrea [38] with 5.3%, 0.93%, 3.97% and 2.2% respectively. In contrary, it is less than that reported in Kersa Woreda Jimma 43.8% [39], Hallaba, Ethiopia [40] with 82.8% and Nigeria by 39.5% [41].…”

Eight-year trend analysis of malaria prevalence in Kombolcha, South Wollo, north-central Ethiopia: a retrospective study

“…Malaria transmission in the region is seasonal due to climatic and altitude factors [12]. Although some parts of the country have no defined rainfall season, in many areas the number of cases reaches a peak after the main rainfall season, which occurs in July-September each year [6].…”

In vivo Antimalarial Evaluation of Embelin and its Semi-Synthetic Aromatic Amine Derivatives

“…The reaction mixture was cooled to room temperature and poured into ice-cooled diluted HCl. The solid separated was filtered, washed with ethanol, dried and purified by re-crystallization from chloroform/ethanol mixture (4:1) to yield a deep violet prism (2).…”

“…8 It has been reported that embelin possesses wide spectrum of biological activities, such as antibacterial, antitumor, anti-inflammatory, antimalarial and analgesic. [9][10] In the present study embelin (1) isolated from the fruits of E. schimperi and its semi-synthesized aromatic amine derivatives (2)(3)(4) have been evaluated for their in vivo antimalarial activity against mice infected with P. berghei.…”

“…Plasmodium falciparum and P. vivax account for 60-70 % and 30-40 % of malaria cases in the country, respectively. 2 Despite the availability of various malaria control strategies none of them appears to be appropriate and affordable in all contexts. [3][4] Current treatment for malaria relies on chemotherapy, as no efficient vaccine is available.…”