Department of Environmental Health Science, College of Public Health and Medical Sciences, Jimma University, Jimma, Ethiopia.
J Infect Public Health. 2009;2(4):171-6. doi: 10.1016/j.jiph.2009.08.005. Epub 2009 Nov 6.
Malaria is a major public health problem in Ethiopia. Over the past years, the disease has been consistently reported as the first leading cause of outpatient visits, hospitalization and death in health facilities across the country. Thus, a retrospective study was conducted to determine the prevalence of malaria from peripheral blood smear examination from the Serbo Health Center of Ethiopia. The case notes of all malaria cases treated between July 2007 and June 2008 were carefully reviewed and analyzed. Of the total 6863 smears, 3009 were found to be positive and contribute 43.8% of diagnostic yield. Plasmodium falciparum constituted the most predominant [64.6% (1946/3009 cases)], while Plasmodium vivax confirmed with 34.9% (1052/3009) cases. Among patients who underwent diagnostic testing and treatment for malaria, males [63.8% (1918/3009 cases)] were more prone to have a positive malaria smear than females [36.2% (1091/3009 cases)]. Chi-square statistical analysis shown that there was a statistically significant association found between male cases and number of positive blood smear (chi(2)=28.1; df=7; p-value=0.001). The present study results clearly suggest that the catchment area of Serbo Health Center is prone for epidemic malaria and the situation is quite deteriorating. At the moment, although we are not equipped with magic bullet for malaria effective low-cost strategies are available for its treatment, prevention, and control. Therefore, creating awareness by active health education campaigns and applying integrated malaria control strategy could bring the constructive outcome in the near future.
疟疾是埃塞俄比亚的一个主要公共卫生问题。在过去的几年中，该疾病一直是该国各卫生机构门诊、住院和死亡的首要原因。因此，进行了一项回顾性研究，以确定来自埃塞俄比亚 Serbo 保健中心外周血涂片检查的疟疾患病率。仔细审查和分析了 2007 年 7 月至 2008 年 6 月期间治疗的所有疟疾病例的病历。在总共 6863 张涂片，发现 3009 张呈阳性，占诊断率的 43.8%。恶性疟原虫构成最主要的病原体[64.6%（1946/3009 例）]，而间日疟原虫证实有 34.9%（1052/3009 例）。在接受疟疾诊断检测和治疗的患者中，男性[63.8%（1918/3009 例)]比女性[36.2%（1091/3009 例)]更容易出现阳性疟疾病例。卡方统计分析表明，男性病例与阳性血涂片数量之间存在统计学显著关联（卡方=28.1；df=7；p 值=0.001）。本研究结果清楚地表明，Serbo 保健中心的集水区容易发生疟疾流行，情况正在恶化。目前，尽管我们没有治疗疟疾的灵丹妙药，但有效的低成本策略仍然可用。因此，通过积极开展健康教育运动和应用综合疟疾控制策略来提高认识，可能会在不久的将来带来建设性的结果。
