Epidemiological characteristics of imported malaria in Chenzhou City, Hunan Province from 2010 to 2017

Abstract

To study the epidemiological characteristics of imported malaria in Chenzhou City, Hunan Province, so as to provide the reference for consolidating the malaria elimination and formulating the prevention and control strategies of imported malaria. The epidemiological characteristics of imported malaria were statistically analyzed in Chenzhou City from 2010 to 2017. Totally 46 malaria cases, which were all imported, were reported in Chenzhou City from 2010 to 2017, with an average annual incidence of 0.12/105. The reported malaria cases were mainly falciparum malaria, accounting for 60.87% of the total number of cases. There was no obvious seasonal distribution of malaria cases, but the top of reported cases were in June. Totally 73.91% of malaria cases were concentrated in Beihu District, Suxian District, Guiyang County and Zixing City. These cases were mainly the young and middle-aged and 69.57% of the cases were from 36 to 60 years old. There was a statistically significant difference in the distribution of malaria patients among the age groups (χ2 = 47.80, P < 0.01). The median time from onset to diagnosis was 6 days, and the case confirmed institutions were dominated by municipal and above medical institutions, accounting for 52.17% of the total number of cases. There was a statistically significant difference in the proportion of confirmed cases among medical and health institutions at all levels ( χ2 = 41.96, P < 0.01). The importation of malaria in Chenzhou City is still severe. The awareness of malaria diagnosis and treatment in primary medical institutions, malaria patients' serum tests, and the health education of malaria control and prevention knowledge should be strengthened to consolidate the malaria elimination results.