Low reliability of home-based diagnosis of malaria in a rural community in western Kenya.
نویسندگان
چکیده
INTRODUCTION Home-based management of malaria is promoted as a major strategy for improving prompt delivery of effective malaria treatment in Africa. This study aimed to determine the proportion of children who tested positive for malaria with routine light microscopy among those whose mothers had made a home-based diagnosis in a rural community in Western Kenya. METHODOLOGY This cross-sectional study was conducted at Bokoli location, Bungoma East District in November and December 2007. Mothers of children five years of age or under with malaria diagnosed by their mothers were interviewed (n = 96). Duplicate blood smears were collected, stained by field stain A (Methylene blue, Azure) and B (Eosin), and examined for malaria parasites using light microscopy. RESULTS Only 30/96 (31.2%) specimens were positive for Plasmodium falciparum. Elevated temperature (70/96; 72.9%) in their children was the most commonly cited criterion for diagnosis of malaria by the mothers. In 57 of the 96 cases, information was given by the mothers regarding treatment during the current malaria episode; of these, 10 (17.5%) had received treatment for malaria, but six (60%) of these were parasite negative. This means that only 4/21 (19.0%) with positive smear microscopy received treatment. The most common anti-malaria drugs used were Fansidar (37.8%) and Metakelfin (29.7%). CONCLUSION The difficulty of diagnosing malaria accurately at home increases the urgent need for improved diagnostic tools that can be used at the community level in poor populations. Intervention measures are needed to increase the treatment rate to reduce reservoirs and malaria parasite transmission.
منابع مشابه
Determinants of Primary School Non-Enrollment and Absenteeism: Results from a Retrospective, Convergent Mixed Methods, Cohort Study in Rural Western Kenya
BACKGROUND Education is a key element in the socioeconomic development required to improve quality of life in Kenya. Despite the introduction of free primary education, primary school enrollment and attendance levels remain low. Drawing on qualitative and quantitative data, this study explores the determinants of non-enrollment and absenteeism in rural western Kenya and potential mitigation str...
متن کاملWeekly miscarriage rates in a community-based prospective cohort study in rural western Kenya
OBJECTIVE Information on adverse pregnancy outcomes is important to monitor the impact of public health interventions. Miscarriage is a challenging end point to ascertain and there is scarce information on its rate in low-income countries. The objective was to estimate the background rate and cumulative probability of miscarriage in rural western Kenya. DESIGN This was a population-based pros...
متن کاملHousing the Urban Poor in Nigeria through Community Participation Using Lessons from Nairobi Kenya
Migration of people to urban areas from the rural areas usually comes with its challenges interms of infrastructural requirement and housing to cater for growing population. One of the challenge for the urbandwellers in Nigeria is that of adequate housing. The inability of the government to meet this demand has seen thepeople concerned seeking alternative solutions to housing need. The resultin...
متن کاملUtility of Health Facility-based Malaria Data for Malaria Surveillance
BACKGROUND Currently, intensive malaria control programs are being implemented in Africa to reduce the malaria burden. Clinical malaria data from hospitals are valuable for monitoring trends in malaria morbidity and for evaluating the impacts of these interventions. However, the reliability of hospital-based data for true malaria incidence is often questioned because of diagnosis accuracy issue...
متن کاملInfectivity of Plasmodium falciparum gametocytes in patients attending rural health centres in western Kenya.
BACKGROUND Experimentally studying the transmission of the malaria parasite and its regulating factors requires availability of human blood donors carrying infectious gametocytes. The difficulty of identifying gametocyte carriers from the community is often limited due to financial and human resources constraints. The available alternative is rural health centres where malaria patients go for t...
متن کاملذخیره در منابع من
با ذخیره ی این منبع در منابع من، دسترسی به آن را برای استفاده های بعدی آسان تر کنید
برای دانلود متن کامل این مقاله و بیش از 32 میلیون مقاله دیگر ابتدا ثبت نام کنید
ثبت ناماگر عضو سایت هستید لطفا وارد حساب کاربری خود شوید
ورودعنوان ژورنال:
- Journal of infection in developing countries
دوره 5 1 شماره
صفحات -
تاریخ انتشار 2011