Epidemiologic investigations of a malaria outbreak in northern Delhi area

Epidemiologic investigations revealed a 56.7 and 13.32% slide positivity rate in febrile and afebrile malaria cases, respectively. In both cases, Plasmodium falciparum was predominant. Anopheles culicifacies resistant to dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane and benzene hexachloride (hexachlorocyclohexane) was found breeding profusely in pools and ponds created by excavation of earth around brick kiln in the region. Furthermore, children were not found to be producing significant levels of antibodies and a large percentage of patients harbored chloroquine-resistant parasites. Also, more than 1 P. falciparum strain was present in the population. We detected 2 strains, VI and VII, of which type VI was predominant.