Epidemiological status of malaria in Larestan, Iran, 2006-2019

Background:Malaria is the most important tropical parasitic disease affected 219 million people, 435,000 of whom died worldwide in 2017 alone. According to WHO, total funding for malaria control and elimination was estimated at US $3·1 billion in 2017. Malaria has always been present in Iran. But, the purpose of malaria surveillance is to control it. Iran started a malaria elimination programme in 2009. The goal of it is achieving this target by 2025. Currently, this disease has remained as one of the public health concerns in Sistan-Baluchestan, Hormozgan, and the tropical parts of Kerman Province. Because of proximity of Larestan city to Hormozgan and the presence of foreigners, especially Afghans, this area, is still suffering from malaria.Objectives: This study is conducted with the aim of assessing epidemiology of malaria in Larestan city.Materials and Methods: This was a cross-sectional descriptive study that studied malaria cases in 2006-2019. The studied variables were taken from the data recorded at the Larestan Center for Disease. Then, the data were coded and entered into SPSS version 22. Descriptive statistics were computed using mean statistics, standard deviation for quantitative data, and frequency and percentage of frequency for qualitative data.Results: During the period 2006-2019, 190 cases (7 Iranians, 2 Pakistanis, and the others Afghans) were recorded, all of which 148 (77.9%) cases were male, and 42 (22.1%) were female with the mean age of 22.36 ± 13.06 (ranging from 1 to 70) years. The lowest incidence was in 2013 with one case and the highest in 2018 with 29 cases. Most cases were in August with 44 (23.2%), and the least in February and March with 4 cases; one hundred sixty-three (85.8 %) and 8 (4.2 %) cases were infected by Plasmodium vivax and Plasmodium falciparum, respectively. Furthermore, 19 (10 %) cases were mixed (vivax and falciparum). From an epidemiological point of view, 159 (83.7 %) cases were Imported, and the others were relapse cases.Conclusion: The findings of this study showed that the incidence of this disease is scattered in Larestan, and has no increasing or decreasing pattern. Most cases are imported that are detected and treated by screening all Iranian and foreigner people who have been referred to high-risk areas, and preventing them from being transferred to others; so it is recommended that malaria surveillance plans for early detection and treatment of foreigners and people traveling to high-risk areas, should be upgraded to maintain the current positive trend.

کلیدواژه ها:

Epidemiology ، Malaria ، Larestan.