Malaria infection and its consequences in school children

Objectives: To evaluate the prevalence and consequences of malaria infection in school children in the Muea area and its environment. Design: A cross-sectional study. Setting: Muea area, South West Cameroon. Subjects: Two hundred and fourty six randomly selected school children aged three to sixteen years. Main outcome measures: Prevalence of malaria in the Muea area. Determination of parasitaemia. Measurement of haematocrit (PCV) values. Species identification. Consequences of malaria infection in terms of school days lost. Results: Prevalence of malaria was 98% and highest prevalence rate (100%) and geometric mean parasite density (1520 parasites/µl of blood) occurred in the &le;5 years age group. Prevalence of anaemia was generally low (10.8%) and there were no cases of severe anaemia (PCV< 20%). P. vivax-like parasites were detected for the first time in this area. Plasmodium falciparum was the predominant species(93%) followed by P. malariae (52%), P. ovale (42.7%) and P. vivax- like parasites (33.3%). Mixed infections also occurred. Fifty three out of 144 (36.8%) children lost a number of school days ranging from 0.5-14 days, with each child losing an average of 1.53 school days in a month. Conclusion: The prevalence of asymptomatic malaria in the Muea area is very high. P. vivax parasites were observed for the first time in the area, but this needs to be confirmed by molecular methods in future studies. Children lost school days as a consequence of malaria infection. East African Medical Journal Vol.82(2) 2005: 93-9