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Fever As A Predictor For Malaria Infection Among Individuals Attending Kofai Phcc
[A CASE STUDY OF ARDO-KOLA LGA TARABA STATE]
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Rainfall provides the breeding sites for mosquitoes and increases
relative humidity necessary for mosquito survival, leading to increase
in the number of mosquitoes biting an individual per unit time (Lindsay
and Martens, 1998). An adult mosquito`s chance of survivorship is
determined by the ambient temperature, humidity and rainfall. Warmer
ambient temperatures shorten the duration of the extrinsic cycle, thus
increasing the chances of transmission (Jackson and Yang, 2010). Malaria
pandemic alone has caught the attention of both the local authorities
and international agencies. Several measures have been adopted to reduce
the rate of morbidity due to malaria. It is believed that climatic
parameters had changed significantly over the past two/three decades
(Akinbobola and Oluleye, 2010). Hence, a deeper knowledge of
environmental variables, conducive to mosquito vector life cycle, is
important to target control interventions most importantly among adults.
Modeling environmental variables are very valuable in defining foci of
malaria transmission. The development of spatial analytical techniques
has created an avenue to evaluate environmental variables that are
generated by remote sensing satellite sensors and captured by Geographic
Information Systems (GIS) for spatial and temporal environmental
analysis (Tanser and Le Sueur, 2002; Thomas et al., 2002). For an
effective malaria management especially, the knowledge of adults on how
and where climatic and environmental conditions favouring the
development and spread of malaria vector can be of great benefit to
health management agencies, thus enabling containment and treatment
efforts to be focused where most needed.
1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
Malaria
is caused by Plasmodium falciparum, and the mosquitoes Anopheles
gambiae, Anopheles funestus, Anopheles arabiensis, and Anopheles
moucheti are the major vectors that cause year-round transmission;
artemether-lumefantrine (AL) or artesunate + amodiaquine (AS + AQ) is
the treatment regime adopted in 2004. Notably, malaria is one of the
most severe global public health problems worldwide, particularly in
Africa, where Nigeria has the greatest number of malaria cases.
Major
risk factors enhancing malaria prevalence and transmission among adults
in Nigeria include demographic factors, environmental factors, and
socioeconomic factors. Demographic factors include age and gender, while
environmental factors include the presence or absence of bushes and
forests which enhance mosquito breeding. Meanwhile, climatic factors
include temperature, humidity, and rainfall that may support rapid
growth and development of mosquito vectors.
For a better management
and cure of malaria, the signs and symptoms of malaria need to be known
among individuals. In most cases, the occurrence of fever serves as a
sign that one is down with malaria. But does having fever always mean
that one is down with malaria? This study seeks to find that out.
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ABSRACT - [ Total Page(s): 1 ]This study was carried out on fever as a predictor for malaria infection among individuals attending kofai phcc in Ardo-Kola LGA Taraba State. To achieve this 4 research questions were formulated. The survey design was adopted and the simple random sampling techniques were employed in this study. The population size comprise of selected staff and patients in kofai phcc, Ardo-Kola LGA Taraba State. In determining the sample size, the researcher conveniently selected 77 residents while 60 were ret ... Continue reading---
