Prevalence of Malaria among Acute Febrile Patients Clinically Suspected of Having Malaria in the Zeway Health Center, Ethiopia

Abstract

SUMMARY: Malaria diagnosis is a common challenge in developing countries with limited diagnostic services. Common febrile illnesses were assessed in 280 malaria-suspected patients, and each case was subjected to clinical and laboratory examinations for malaria, relapsing fever, typhoid fever, typhus, and brucellosis. Data were entered and analyzed using Epi Info version 3.1 software. Malaria accounted for 17z (CI, 12.6-21.4z) of febrile illnesses. The remaining cases were associated with typhoid fever (18.5z; CI, 13.95-23.05z), typhus (17.8z; CI, 13.32-22.28z), brucellosis (1z; CI, -0.17-2.17z), relapsing fever (2z; CI, 0.36-3.64z), and unknown causes (44z). Approximately 7z of patients had coinfections, and 2z of patients treated as monoinfections. Approximately 1.4z of the nonmalarial patients received antimalarial treatment. The sensitivity and specificity of the CareStart Pf/pan rapid diagnostic tests in comparison with those of microscopy were 100z and 91z, respectively, with positive-and negative-predictive values of 94z and 100z, respectively. Compared with microscopy, the positive-predictive value of each malaria symptom was much lower than that of the symptoms combined: fever, 17z; sweating, 30z; headache, 18z; general body ache, 22z; loss of appetite, 21z. The study findings revealed a high proportion of nonmalarial illnesses were clinically categorized as malaria. Parasite-based diagnosis is recommended for the management of malarial and nonmalarial cases.

Community-based prevalence of typhoid fever, typhus, brucellosis and malaria among symptomatic individuals in Afar Region, Ethiopia

“…falciparum infection by microscopy. This result is in line with previous health facility based studies in other parts of Ethiopia on causes of febrile illnesses [ 18 , 19 ], and the highest disease prevalence was found for typhus (14.0%) followed by typhoid fever (7.3%).…”

“…However, the sero-prevalence of Rickettsia infection in this study was lower than the one reported from other parts of Ethiopia [ 19 , 28 ], but higher than the findings of the studies by Tadesse and Tadesse [ 18 ] and Birhane et al [ 29 ]. The variation might be linked to the type of environment in the study area.…”

“…Our result is comparable with other health facility based studies in different parts of Ethiopia [ 18 , 24 ]. The observed sero-prevalence is lower than the results of health facility based studies in Ziway area [ 19 ] and Northwest Ethiopia [ 29 ]. Various factors could explain these differences: seasons, environmental hygiene, geographical location and the nature of the study population [ 32 ].…”

“…In Ethiopia, there have been few health facilities based studies to determine the prevalence of typhoid fever, typhus, malaria and brucellosis among individuals presented with febrile illness related symptoms [ 17 – 19 ]. Communities based epidemiological data on the causative agents of common febrile illness related symptoms is generally lacking in the pastoralists areas due to the remoteness of sites and pastoralists way of life.…”

Santé Environnementale dans les Villes en Afrique Subsaharienne: Problèmes Conceptuels et Méthodologiques

“…Également, le caractère multifactoriel des déterminants de maladies en plus des facteurs environnementaux vient brouiller l'établissement du lien de nature causale (Chevalier et al, 2003). Une fièvre, par exemple, peut être causée par de nombreuses maladies dont le paludisme, la dengue ou les maladies diarrhéiques (Feleke et al, 2015). Les difficultés concernent également les multiples définitions des variables de l'environnement (accès à l'eau de boisson, assainissement et hygiène) (Dos Santos et al, 2014).…”