Malaria Prevalence and Distribution of Plasmodium Species in Southern Region of Ethiopia

Abstract

Malaria is caused by Plasmodium species and transmitted by Anopheles mosquitoes, which is the most common medical concern all over the world, including in Ethiopia. The current systematic review’s goal was to determine the overall malaria prevalence and Plasmodium species distribution in Ethiopia’s southern area. To achieve these objectives, 716 articles were manually searched from online databases such as PubMed, Scopus, Google Scholar, Science Direct, and Web of Science. The pooled metalogistic regression was calculated with the STATA 16 software to present the pooled prevalence with a 95% confidence interval (CI). Eighteen full-text articles met the inclusion criteria and were included in the study, out of the 716 studies initially identified. The majority of the articles in the systematic review used a cross-sectional study design, with sample sizes ranging from 160 to 583,668 participants. The study’s lowest and highest malaria prevalence was 0.93% and 82.84%, respectively. During the current systematic review, the estimated malaria prevalence was 19.19% (95% CI: 14.67–23.70). There were 263,476 positive individuals in the study, accounting for 148,734, 106,946, and 7,796 cases of P. falciparum, P. vivax, and mixed infections, respectively. The overall prevalence of P. falciparum and P. vivax was 8.97% (95% CI: 6.31, 11.63) and 7.94% (95% CI: 6.56, 9.33), respectively. According to the systematic review, the most predominant Plasmodium species responsible for malaria disease in the study area was P. falciparum. The highest malaria rates were found in this systematic review. In the systematic review, P. falciparum was the most dominant Plasmodium species that was responsible for malaria disease in the study area. This systematic review indicates the highest malaria prevalence in the southern regions of Ethiopia. Therefore, existing malaria prevention and control strategies in the southern region of Ethiopia should be revised.

Widespread pfhrp2/3 deletions and HRP2-based false-negative results in southern Ethiopia

“…The study area is located in the southern and southwestern parts of Ethiopia, with an estimated 20.5 million people belonging to diverse ethnic groups. Approximately 91.1% of the population lives in rural areas [ 26 ]. The main sources of local livelihood are agriculture and livestock herding.…”

Plasmodium vivax: the potential obstacles it presents to malaria elimination and eradication

“…Despite the fact that primaquine resistance is sometimes mistaken for therapy failure or the inability to eradicate the P. vivax hypnozoite liver stage following the completion of the complete course of medication and the appropriate therapeutic dose [ 183 ], primaquine and chloroquine resistance in P. vivax has been well reported [ 16 ]. Primaquine treatment failure has been documented in several P. vivax strains, especially those from the Western Pacific, Southeast Asia, South America, and certain regions of Africa [ 199 ].…”

“…Despite the fact that P. vivax is an uncommon species in Africa, where P. falciparum predominates, it is coendemic with P. falciparum in Ethiopia, where case incidence rates are roughly equal. P. vivax is responsible for approximately 40% of all malaria infections in Ethiopia, similar to other locations, according to several lines of evidence [ 16 , 67 ].…”

“…P. vivax uses unique transmission strategies, such as (i) a dormant and relapsing stage in the liver (hypnozoites); (ii) reticulocyte tropism, the parasite strict reticulocyte preferences; (iii) gametocytes' rapid and consistent development; (iv) vivax malaria parasites are genetically highly variable; this genetic plasticity results in multiple clones of P. vivax infections, which may drive increases in parasite virulence, fitness, and survival, allowing it to respond to antimalarials differently than P. falciparum and other malaria parasites; (v) climatic conditions: the parasite's ability to replicate at lower temperatures than P. falciparum , allowing it to broaden its range far beyond the tropics; and (vi) drug resistance in the Malaria Parasite: CQ resistance appears to have spread globally [ 16 , 16 , 72 , 96 , 158 ].…”

Plasmodium Vivax as a Causative Agent for Cerebral Malaria in a Group of Adults at Mizan Tepi Teaching Hospital: Case Series

“…The prevalence of P. falciparum was 8.97% and P. vivax was 7.94%. [1][2][3] Its burden decreased from 24.5 million cases in 2000 to 14.3 million in 2017; however, its rate increased in regions affected by political and economic instability. 4 In sub-Saharan Africa most people do not express Duffy factor on the surface of red blood cells, as a result the prevalence of P. vivax infection in that region is low.…”