Prevalence of Plasmodium vivax Malaria among Children in Kassala State, Eastern Sudan

Abstract

Background: All over the world 2.6 billion people per year are at risk of Plasmodium vivax malaria, 56% of all malaria cases outside Africa are due to Plasmodium vivax, also about 70-80 million malaria cases per year worldwide are due to Plasmodium vivax. To the best of our knowledge, there is no epidemiological study assessing the prevalence of Plasmodium vivax malaria in Sudan. Methods: This retrospective study was carried out at Kassala state, eastern Sudan. Thick and thin blood films were prepared from capillary blood sample from two thousand, eight hundred and seven febrile patients. The slides were stained with Giemsa and screened for the presence of malaria parasites and parasite species. Stained blood films were examined microscopically with (X100) oil immersion lens. Results: Plasmodium vivax was detected in 41 blood samples (1.5 %) when examined microscopically. Most of them 28 (1.0 %) were Rashieda tribe (p value = 0.03). Conclusion: The prevalence of Plasmodium vivax malaria was low in our study area comparing with the neighbor countries like Ethiopia. More researches can be performed in this area where Plasmodium falciparum is predominant.