Epidemiology of Plasmodium Parasitemia in General Population of Bannu District Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (Kp), Pakistan

Abstract

A parasitological survey was conducted to know the epidemiology of malaria in general population of Bannu district.Total four hundred and forty (440) blood samples were randomly collected in different localities of district Bannu from both males and females population of varying age group (1- >50) from the months of September 2013 to June 2014 and subjected to both Microscopy and Rapid Diagnostic Test(RDT). Malaria was highly prevalent 131/440 (29.77 % microscopy) and 97/440 (22.04% RDT) in the studied area. Pasmodiumvivax was found to be more prevalent by both microscopy 116/131 (88.54%) andRapid Diagnostic Test(RDT) 61/97 (62.3 %). Males of varying age groups were highly susceptible to malaria infection 80/235 (34.04 % by microscopy) and 59/246 (23.98% by RDT_s) than females of varying age groups 51/205 (24.87 % by microscopy) and 38/194 (19.58% by RDT_s).  Both diagnostic results showed that highest cases were found in a sector A, while the lowest prevalence of malaria infection was found in a sector C.Plasmodium infections in Bannu district are largely attributed to Plasmodium vivax but Plasmodium falciparumand mixed species infections are also prevalent. In addition, microscopic show best and accurate diagnosis as compare to Rapid Diagnostic Test Kit (RDT).