Living conditions and occurrence of malaria in a rural community

Results of a prospective study of the association between environmental factors and malaria occurrence among 1461 individuals in an Indian rural community are reported. A multiplicative model was fitted by relating malaria positivity with different environmental risk factors as categorical variables. The risk of acquiring malaria infections varied significantly within a village stratified by proximity of breeding sources to human dwellings (chi 2 = 19.87, df = 5, p = 0.0000) and different types of houses (chi 2 = 11.32, df = 2, p = 0.0035). People residing in thatched houses with [Relative Risk (RR) = 6.72] and without false ceiling (RR = 11.27) are exposed to greater risk of contracting malaria infections when compared to tiled houses (RR = 1.00). However, malaria infection was not significantly associated with proximity of cattlesheds to human dwellings (chi 2 = 1.54, df = 2, p = 0.46). A significantly high risk was observed in zones where the cattle to man ratio was very low and vice versa (chi 2 = 15.32, df = 6, p = 0.018). These data suggest and corroborate with earlier studies that transmission is a local problem and it varies within a village according to the microepidemiological factors.