Prevalence and distribution of malaria parasites in general population of district Dir Lower, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan

Malaria, the disease caused by protozoan parasite Plasmodium is moderately endemic in Pakistan. This study was conducted from October 2013 to September 2014 with aim to determine the prevalence and distribution of malarial parasites in general population of District Dir Lower, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. The data were collected from government hospitals and private laboratories of the district and analysed through SPSS software. Chi-square test was employed to find association of malaria with tested variables and P-value below 0.05 was considered significant. A total of 821 patients suspected for malaria were enrolled in this study among which 324 (39.5%) were found positive for malaria parasites through microscopy. The species of Plasmodium detected were Plasmodium vivax (30.1%) and Plasmodium falciparum (9.4%). Mixed infection with both species was not detected. Prevalence of P. vivax in males was 24.5% and in females was 15.0% while that of P. falciparum was 6.3% and 3.0% respectively. Prevalence of both species was highest (8.3% P. vivax and 2.7% P. falciparum) in subjects aged 21-30 years. P. vivax was most prevalent in the month of October while P. falciparum was in March. Prevalence of P. vivax ranged from 2.8% in Tehsil Munda to 6.9% in Tehsil Timergara while that of P. falciparum varied from 0.5% in Tehsil Samarbagh to 2.3% in Timergara. Association of malaria was significant only with age of the host and not with any other tested variable. In conclusion, male population was more infected and P. vivax was the predominant species of Plasmodium in study area.