Malaria prevalence in Arunachal Pradesh--a northeastern state of India

Malaria is endemic in Arunachal Pradesh, India. To understand seasonal prevalence and malaria transmission, a retrospective surveillance study was conducted from 1995 to 2012. Plasmodium vivax caused 80.8% and P. falciparum caused 17.7% of total malaria cases. It was observed that prevalence rates of P. vivax declined significantly (P < 0.001) from 1995 to 2012 but that P. falciparum remained constant during the study period (P = 0.57). The decrease in the prevalence of P. vivax cases may be because of effective implementation of vector and disease management programs. It is noted that there was a significant correlation between the number of P. falciparum malaria cases and rainfall (P < 0.06). These findings help us to understand the patterns of malaria epidemiology in Arunachal Pradesh and show that P. falciparum is circulating constantly and requires more effective control measures to combat it.