Herekar Fivzia, Iftikhar Sundus, Nazish Ahsana, Rehman Sabeen
Fivzia Herekar, FCPS (Infectious Diseases), Department of Internal Medicine, Indus Hospital Research Center, The Indus Hospital, Karachi, Pakistan.
Sundus Iftikhar, Mphil (Statistics), Indus Hospital Research Center, The Indus Hospital, Karachi, Pakistan.
Pak J Med Sci. 2020 Jan;36(1):S33-S37. doi: 10.12669/pjms.36.ICON-Suppl.1712.
Malaria is an arthropod-borne infectious disease transmitted by the mosquito Anopheles and claims millions of lives globally every year. Reasons for failure to eradicate this disease are multifactorial. The seasonality of the malaria is principally determined by climatic factors conducive for breeding of the vector. We aimed to study the relationship between climatic variability and the seasonality of malaria over an eight-year duration.
This was a retrospective medical chart review of 8,844 confirmed cases of malaria which presented to The Indus Hospital, Karachi from January 2008 to November 2015. Cases were plotted against meteorological data for Karachi to elicit monthly variation.
A secular incline and seasonality in malaria cases over the duration of eight years was seen. More cases were reported in the summer, rainy season compared with the other three seasons in each year. There was significant association with specific climate variables such as temperature, moisture, and humidity.
There is a marked seasonal variation of malaria in Karachi, influenced by various environmental factors. Identification of the 'the concentrated period' of malaria can be helpful for policymakers to deploy malaria control interventions.
疟疾是一种由按蚊传播的节肢动物媒介传染病，每年在全球夺走数百万人的生命。未能根除这种疾病的原因是多方面的。疟疾的季节性主要由有利于病媒繁殖的气候因素决定。我们旨在研究八年期间气候变异性与疟疾季节性之间的关系。
这是一项对2008年1月至2015年11月期间在卡拉奇印度河医院就诊的8844例确诊疟疾病例的回顾性病历审查。将病例与卡拉奇的气象数据进行对比，以得出每月的变化情况。
在八年期间，疟疾病例出现了长期上升趋势和季节性变化。与每年的其他三个季节相比，夏季和雨季报告的病例更多。与温度、湿度和水分等特定气候变量存在显著关联。
卡拉奇的疟疾存在明显的季节性变化，受多种环境因素影响。确定疟疾的“集中发病期”有助于政策制定者部署疟疾控制干预措施。
