Epidemiology of malaria in infancy at Enugu, Nigeria

This was a retrospective study to ascertain the prevalence and clinical features of malaria in infants in Enugu between January 1998 and January 2000. Case notes of two thousand children were reviewed, one hundred and fifty-five (7.75%) had a diagnosis of malaria, with a male/female ratio of 1.2:1. The age range was two days to twelve months with a mean of 5.06 +/- 3.24 months. Nine infants (5.8 %) were less than seven days old. Ninety-nine of the patients (63.9%) had temperature > or = 37.5 degrees C. Diarrhea was a symptom in 52 (33.5%) patients, while vomiting alone or in combination with diarrhea was a presenting feature in 37 (23.87%) of the children. Twenty-eight children (18.1%) had respiratory symptoms of which, two had bronchopneumonia. Other associated illnesses included. septicaemia: 6(3.8%). infective diarrhea; 5(3.2%), and urinary tract infection; 4 (2.6%). Malaria is common in infants less than 6 months of age and associated with symptoms common with other childhood illnesses.