Control of malaria: the rapid fever surveillance programme

Eighty-five villages out of nearly 300 villages of Tiptur taluka covering a population of 47,271 where the incidence of Plasmodium falciparum (PF) malaria was very high, were selected for a programme during Aug 93 which lasted for 29 months until the end of Dec 95. Ten days of fever radical treatment (FRT) and 54 weekly and 29 fortnightly rapid fever surveillance (RFS) programmes were conducted. 64,142 blood smears were examined out of which 21,542 were positive for malaria and 14,291 were of PF type. There were 9858 PF cases during the last 5 months of 1993, which came down to 349 by the end of 1995. Fever morbidity which was nearly 1000 new cases per day during FRT came down to 120, 78, and 30 new cases per day during 1993, 1994 and 1995, respectively. Parasite index (PI) for PF Malaria was 140-321 during 1993, came down to 0.6-15 at the end of the study. Four rounds of DDT, two rounds of Ikon and one round of Delta-methrin were sprayed in four and two PHC areas, respectively during this period. Asymptomatic carriers for PF malaria were detected in the children under 14 years of age (3.1%). This programme did prove very effective in bringing down morbidity and mortality due to PF Malaria in the community.