Abstract
Background: Malaria is a public health problem and affects 40% of the world population. According to WHO 97% of the Pakistani population is at risk of contracting malaria with nationwide burden of 1.6 million cases per year. This study was aimed at determining the slide positivity rate in clinically suspected cases of malaria using microscopy as diagnostic tool.
Material & Methods: This descriptive study was conducted on patients presenting to Medical OPD of Khalifa Gul Nawaz Teaching Hospital, Bannu city from 15th May 2013 to 15th July 2013. Patients with age >5 years of both the genders and having fever above 37.50C were included. Those who had antimalarial medication during the previous two weeks were excluded from the study. Both thick and thin films were made by the laboratory technician for malaria. The slides were stained by Giemsa stain and seen under the light microscope. Results were recorded on proformas and analyzed for frequencies using SPSS version 13.
Result: Among the total 236 patients, 117(49.58%) were males and 119(50.42%) females. Age ranged from 5 to 78 years. Regarding results of slides for malaria, out of 236 slides examined, 170 (72.03%) were positive for malarial parasite. Among the positive cases, 94.71% were Plasmodium vivax and 5.29% Plasmodium falciparum. No other species was found. In positive patients 129(75.88%) were in the younger age below 40 years and only 41 (24.11%) were above 40 years age. Positivity for malarial parasites was higher 89 (52.35%) in males as compared to females 81 (47.64%) patients.
Conclusion: Malaria is responsible for fever in most febrile patients in our community. It is more common in younger age group. Plasmodium vivax is the most common species involved.
Abdul Razaq Khan, Nowshad Khan, Habibullah Khan. (2014) FREQUENCY OF SLIDE POSITIVITY IN CLINICALLY SUSPECTED MALARIA CASES, Gomal Journal of Medical Sciences , Volume 12, Issue 2.
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