Severe falciparum malaria in young children of the Kassena-Nankana district of northern Ghana.

Oduro, A.R.; Koram, K.A.; Rogers, W.; Atuguba, F.; Ansah, P.; Anyorigiya, T.; Ansah, A.; Anto, F.; Mensah, N.; Hodgson, A.; Nkrumah, F.

Severe falciparum malaria in young children of the Kassena-Nankana district of northern Ghana.

Date

2007

Authors

Abstract

Study design. Severe falciparum malaria in children was studied as part of the characterization of the Kassena-Nankana District Ghana for future malaria vaccine trials. Children aged 6-59 months with diagnosis suggestive of acute disease were characterized using the standard WHO definition for severe malaria. Results. Of the total children screened, 45.2% (868/1921) satisfied the criteria for severe malaria. Estimated incidence of severe malaria was 3.4% (range: 0.4-8.3%) cases per year. The disease incidence was seasonal: 560 cases per year, of which 70.4% occurred during the wet season (June-October). The main manifestations were severe anaemia (36.5%); prolonged or multiple convulsions (21.6%); respiratory distress (24.4%) and cerebral malaria (5.4%). Others were hyperpyrexia (11.1%); hyperparasitaemia (18.5%); hyperlactaemia (33.4%); and hypoglycaemia (3.2%). The frequency of severe anaemia was 39.8% in children of six to 24 months of age and 25.9% in children of 25-60 months of age. More children (8.7%) in the 25-60 months age group had cerebral malaria compared with 4.4% in the 6-24 months age group. The overall case fatality ratio was 3.5%. Cerebral malaria and hyperlactataemia were the significant risk factors associated with death. Severe anaemia, though a major presentation, was not significantly associated with risk of death. Conclusion. Severe malaria is a frequent and seasonal childhood disease in northern Ghana and maybe an adequate endpoint for future malaria vaccine trials. © 2007 Oduro et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

Keywords

EMTREE medical terms: acute disease; age distribution; anemia; article; brain malaria; cause of death; clinical feature; comparative study; controlled study; convulsion; disease severity; fatality; female; Ghana; human; hyperlactatemia; hyperpyrexia; hypoglycemia; infant; major clinical study; malaria falciparum; male; parasitemia; preschool child; prevalence; respiratory distress; screening; seasonal variation; standard; world health organization; age; analysis of variance; anemia; animal; breathing disorder; Ghana; incidence; malaria; malaria falciparum; mortality; prognosis; risk factor; season; survival rate

Citation

Oduro, A. R., Koram, K. A., Rogers, W., Atuguba, F., Ansah, P., Anyorigiya, T., . . . Nkrumah, F. (2007). Severe falciparum malaria in young children of the Kassena-Nankana district of northern Ghana. Malaria Journal, 6.