Incidence of malaria--three years prospective study

Malaria continues to be one of the major health problems in India. The India has witnessed a spectacular achievement in 1960's (1964) but a comeback lateron. A continued rise of Plasmodium falciparum was observed in many areas. The study was undertaken to analyze the incidence of malaria and compare the rapid diagnostic test--Immunochromatographic technique (ICT-Malaria) with conventional Giemsa staining. A total of 14,092 peripheral blood smears were screened for malaria. Plasmodium falciparum (57.82%) was major species followed by Plasmodium vivax (42.18%). More cases were found in males (54.56%) and in younger age group (1-12 yrs) and (21-30 yrs). We found the ICT Malaria test sensitivity (99.03%) and specificity (99.9%) as compared to blood smear positivity. The ICT Malaria test found to be easy, less time consuming and with diagnostic accuracy as equivalent to gold standard that is conventional Giemsa staining.