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Hindi Research Article
Presumptive Diagnosis and Treatment of Malaria in Febrile Children in Parts of South Eastern Nigeria
| Okoro CI1, Chukwuocha UM2*, Nwakwuo GC2, and Ukaga CN3 | |
| 1Medical Laboratory Services, Federal Medical Center, Owerri, Nigeria | |
| 2Department Of Public Health Technology, School of Health Technology, Federal University of Technology, Owerri, Imo State, Nigeria | |
| 3Department of Animal and Environmental Biology, Imo State University, Owerri, Nigeria | |
| Corresponding Author : | Chukwuocha UM Department Of Public Health Technology School of Health Technology, Federal University of Technology, Owerri, Imo State, Nigeria Tel: +2348034712957 E-mail: uchukwuocha@gmail.com |
| Received: August 18, 2015 Accepted: October 6, 2015 Published: October 20, 2015 | |
| Citation: Okoro CI, Chukwuocha UM, Nwakwuo GC, Ukaga CN (2015) Presumptive Diagnosis and Treatment of Malaria in Febrile Children in Parts of South Eastern Nigeria. J Infect Dis Ther 3:240. doi:10.4172/2332-0877.1000240 | |
| Copyright: © 2015 Okoro et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. | |
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Abstract
Background: Malaria treatment in Nigeria and other Sub-Saharan Africa is largely based on presumptive diagnosis leading to poor management of non-malaria febrile illness and abuse of antimalarial drugs.
Objectives: To evaluate malaria treatments based on presumptive diagnosis and describe the actual density of uncomplicated malaria among febrile children in South Eastern Nigeria.
Methods: Parasitological diagnosis using microscopy was done among 560 febrile children, 0-12 years attending Paediatric Clinics in a tertiary health facility in the study area. Their blood samples were collected prior to malaria treatment using IMCI guidelines and standard routine clinical practice. These children were grouped into under 5 years and 5-12 years. Data was analysed using SPSS.
Results: Out of 560 children (0-12 years) enrolled in this study, 156(27.9%) were positive for malaria parasites, while 404(72.1%) were negative. Children’s age was significantly related to the prevalence of uncomplicated malaria (p<0.05) and a high determinant in explaining 6.4% of the variance in the prevalence of uncomplicated malaria (F=37.915 and p<0.05). Children 5-12 years (51.9%) had higher parasite density (40,678.2 P/μl) compared to those less than 5. The negative result of 72.1% indicated possibility of overtreatment with antimalarial.
Conclusion: The findings highlight the need for the scaling-up of parasitological confirmation of all malaria suspected cases before treatment with the artemesinin-based combination therapies. Improving the diagnostic system for effective health care delivery in endemic areas will not only provide a good platform for malaria treatment/ monitoring but also reduce rapid onset of drug resistance.
