Malaria control and treatment strategies among school children in semi-urban tropical communities.

BACKGROUND Plasmodium infections among school children in Igbo-Eze South Local Government of Enugu State, Nigeria, were studied between July and December 2005. The relationship between the use of malaria control measures and the prevalence of Plasmodium infections was investigated. METHODS Blood smears were obtained from 1296 school children (ages 4-15 years) from six schools randomly sampled from the study area. Drugs were given to infected children. Epidemiological questionnaires were administered to the children. RESULTS Out of 1296 school children examined, 270 (20.8%) had Plasmodium falciparum infections. The prevalence of these parasitic infections varied significantly (p < 0.05) among schools, with Central School, Ovoko (30.1% P falciparum) and Community primary school, Itchi (13.9%), having the highest and lowest prevalence rates respectively. Furthermore, the prevalence of P falciparum infections also varied significantly (p < 0.05) among the age groups, with age groups 4-6 (35.1%) and 10-12 (14.2%) having the highest and lowest prevalence rates respectively. Males (23.1%) had a significantly higher prevalence rate than females (18.5%). The prevalence of malaria was significantly lower among pupils using preventive measures; 5.9% among pupils using mosquito bed net as against 21.2% among those not using bed nets and 4.6% for pupils living in screened houses as against 24.1% for those not living in screened houses. CONCLUSION The study revealed that malaria is a major public health problem among pupils in a Nigerian local community. Prevalence rates among pupils varied among location of schools, age and gender. Preventive measures favoured the use of bed nets and living in screened houses.