Study of malaria cases in central laboratory at tertiary care hospital, Vadodara, India

Abstract

Introduction: Malaria is an endemic disease with high degree of severity in certain geographic areas of India. Gujarat is amongst one of them. The symptoms of Malaria ranges from mild to severe depending on the type of the plasmodium species, age of the patient, parasite load in the body of the host, season in which the infection occurs as well as endemicity of that region. These symptoms include fever, headache, nausea, vomiting. In case of P. Falciparum malaria, patient may develop convulsions, coma and death if cerebral malaria develops. In P.Vivax, there are high chances of relapse. So in such cases patient requires treatment after completion of routine treatment. That is why it is important to know the type of malaria and treat them accordingly.Aims and Objectives: To evaluate prevalence of various plasmodium species in clinically suspected cases of malaria and their demographic study.Material and Methods: Total 113 positive malaria cases were included in this study between June 2019 to May 2020 at the Central Laboratory, Department of Pathology, Medical College, Baroda. The samples included all age groups and both the gender of the patients. Routine hematological investigations including peripheral smear examination, thick and thin smear, rapid test whenever needed and complete hemogram were performed.Results: Two types of malarial parasites were found, Plasmodium vivax (68.1%) and Plasmodium falciparum (31.9%). The prevalence of malarial infection exhibited seasonal pattern with most of the cases in the month of September, October and November with peak in October. Infection prevalence in male patients was higher (71.68%) than in female (28.32%) patients. Age group ranged from 7 years to 75 years with 21-30 years had greatest risk. These findings compared with other findings of malaria endemic populations in India that a hospital-based diagnosis and surveillance for malaria reflects seasonal malaria transmission underlying demographic and geographic distribution.Conclusion: This study gives useful information regarding prevalence of malaria in Gujarat which can be useful at national level for National Malaria Prevention and Control Program, to minimize the cases, complications and fatality related to malaria.