[Symptomatic and asymptomatic Plasmodium falciparum infection in children from 6 months to 6 years old in the Abobo general hospital (Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire)].

It is commonly admitted that people living in malarial zone are carrying asymptomatic Plasmodium. Côte d'Ivoire is one of these zones. The studies carried out on malaria in these areas have focused mainly on the clinical forms of the disease and effectiveness of the antimalarial drugs. The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of the symptomatic and asymptomatic carriage of Plasmodium falciparum in children of 6 months to 180 months old in the Abidjan area. Over a period of twelve months, 902 feverish subjects and 681 non-feverish subjects were selected among the 7,017 people admitted in the paediatrics service of the Abobo general hospital for detection of malaria parasite. Among 1,583 selected subjects, 358 were carrying Plasmodium falciparum implying a total prevalence rate of 22.6%. The prevalence rate was 13.5% and 29.5% respectively in the asymptomatic subjects and symptomatic subjects. The highest proportions of positive thick smears were observed during the long rainy and dry seasons but, parasitaemia was the highest during the short dry season. In 31.5% of the cases, the asymptomatic carriers had a parasitic density higher or equal to 10,000 trophozoites/microl of blood and fever was not related to parasitic load. The prevalence rates of Plasmodium carriage and malaria were higher during the long rainy season. This study highlighted a considerable proportion of asymptomatic Plasmodium falciparum carriers. Improving environmental conditions should help to reduce this rate of carriage.