The Prevalence of Malaria Infection among Patients Attending the Health Centre of the Federal University of Technology, Akure, Nigeria

Aim: This study determined the prevalence of malaria among patients having malaria symptoms that reported for malaria test at the Health Centre of the Federal University of Technology, Akure.

Place and Duration of Study: The research was carried out in the Health Centre of the Federal University of Technology, Akure, Ondo State, Nigeria between January to December 2015.

Methodology: Prior the commencement of the research work, approval was given by the Health Research Ethics Committee (HREC) of the University. A total of 2,616 patients were examined, with the ages of patients ranging from 4 years to 65 years. Demographic information such as sex, age, status (Student and Staff) and date of collection of each patient whose blood sample was collected were recorded. Malaria parasite screening was done using the thick blood film microscopy technique with Giemsa stain while Chi-square analysis was used to analyze the data obtained from the study.

Results: The results showed that the highest prevalence of 82 (91.1%) was recorded among the children aged 1-10, followed by age 21-30 having the prevalence of 926 (79.7%) while the lowest prevalence of 21 (56.8%) was recorded among the age group above 60 years. Also, high prevalence of 79.7% was recorded during wet season (March to October), while a lower prevalence of 75.4% was recorded during dry season (November to February) with significant difference at P = 0.001.

Conclusion: The result showed that there was high prevalence of malaria infection throughout the year among the patients. There is the need for constant check on all possible predisposition factors like breeding site of the mosquito vector. This could be achieved through public enlightenment on effective malaria control programs such as the use of insecticide treated nets, environmental management and sanitation and perfect engineering works.