1PG Student, Department of Microbiology, Shri Ram Murti Smarak Institute of Medical Science, Bareilly
2Associate Professor, Department of Anatomy, Govt. Medical College, Haldwani
3Assistant Professor, Department of Community Medicine, North DMC Medical College & Hindu Rao Hospital, Delhi
*Corresponding author: Deepa Deopa, Department of Anatomy, Govt. Medical College, Haldwani. Phone number: 9412630222, E-mail address: deepa_deopa@rediffmail.com
Online published on 31 January, 2015.
Among vector borne diseases, malaria poses a major public health problem with being most prevalent from July to November. It is a protozoal disease caused by infection with Plasmodium parasite. Diagnosis depends on demonstration of the parasite in the blood. Newest RDTs are available to detect circulating antigen.
The study was done to estimate the prevalence and seasonality of Malaria in SRMS-IMS along with comparison between microscopy and RDTs.
3237 blood samples were collected during a 12 month period between August 2012 and July 2013 from patients suspected to have malaria in SRMS-IMS. Samples were examined by light microscopy after staining with Leishman stain and RDTs (ParaHIT Total Dipstick Malaria Ag Pf/Pan) respectively.
Samples of 3237 patients attending OPDs and admitted in SRMS-IMS were included. Prevalence of Malaria was found to be 3.21%. Results showed peak prevalence in months of July to November with an average prevalence of 4.01%. For diagnosis, RDTs were found to be superior to conventional smear examination.
This study highlights the trend of malaria among patients coming to SRMS-IMS Bareilly along with its seasonal variation and specificity of tests. Thus it is recommended that malaria can be controlled by controlling the vector spread during the particular period of rise. RDTs can be used more frequently, even over conventional methods so as to rule out the human errors.
Malaria, Microscopic diagnosis, Rapid Diagnostic Tests
