Prevalence of malaria among patients requested For blood film examination at shanan gibe Hospital, jimma town, south west ethiopia

Abstract

Background:Malaria is a major public health problem and cause of much suffering and premature death in poorer areas of tropical Africa,Asia and Latin America. The agents of human malaria are four species of the genus plasmodium:-pv,pf,pm and po. Female anopheles mosquitoes the is the primary vector for malaria.  Objectives: To determine prevalence of Malaria among patients requested for blood film examination at Shanan Gibe Hospital , Jimma Town, South West Ethiopia  Method: A cross sectional health institution based study was conducted in Shanan Gibe Hospital from February 10 to 25, 2013 Data on socio demographic and factors associated with Malaria transmission was collected using a structured questionnaire that has been prepared in Afan Oromo and Amharic and that was administered by interviewing. Microscopic examination for Malaria parasites was done on thick and thin blood film prepared from Capillary blood specimens that was stained with Giemsa stain. Quality control measure was under taken at every stages of the procedure.  Result: Out of 142 patients whose BF was examined,67 and 75 were males and females respectively. The prevalence of malaria was 23(16.2%) and from this 11(47.8%) and 12(52.2%) were males and females respectively. pv was the most dominant 18(78.3%) followed by pf which was 4(17.4%) and mixed infection was 1(4.3%). The age of the population ranges from 0.5 to 65 years with the peak age between 25-29 followed by 0-4.  Conclusions: The overall prevalence of malaria infection obtained in this study was 16.2% and it is significantly associated with the presence of stagnant water in the community area. P. vivax was the most dominant (78.3%), followed by p.falciparum which was (17.4%) and mixed infection (4.3%).The prevalence was high in females than males.The majority of patients are within the age 15 to 19.