Epidemiology of malaria in Nikshahr, Sistan and Baluchestan province, Southeast Iran, during 2004-2010

Abstract

Objective: Malaria is a major health problem in Nikshahr. In 2010, about 11.9% of the total malaria cases in Iran occurred in Nikshahr. The main purpose of this study was to survey the epidemiological features of malaria in Nikshahr, Southeast Iran, during a 7-year period, 2004-2010. Materials and Methods: The present survey is a descriptive study that involves positive cases of Malaria reported from the center of communicable diseases in Nikshahr. The data were entranced to a computer according to demographic and epidemiological characteristics of patients as well as plasmodium species; then they were analyzed by SPSS 16 software. Results: A total of 12233 cases were reported during 2004-2010 and three types of species of malaria parasite were detected. The highest positive number (2937) was reported in 2006 and the lowest number (221) in 2010. Malaria-positive cases of Nikshahr were mainly (60.2%) found among male individuals. The annual parasite incidence (API), which is the index of malaria incidence in the community, has decreased from 9.5 in 2004 to 1.09 in 2010. The slide positive rate among indigenous residents was significantly higher than that of the migrant population. Most (96.5%) of the malaria-positive cases were found among the Iranian population. About 0.3% of cases were identified to be mixed (falciparum and vivax), 98% Plasmodium vivax, and 1.7% Plasmodium falciparum. The largest number of malaria-positive cases occurred in October when the average percentage of humidity was 29.4 and the mean ambient temperature was 30.8°C. Conclusions: Several measures should ideally be implemented in an integrated pattern to contain the dissemination of malaria parasites and mosquito vectors; these include improvement of policies, regulations, and practices regarding malariological screening.