Prevalence of Asymptomatic Malaria Infections in Seemingly Healthy Children, the Rural Dzanga Sangha Region, Central African Republic

Krzysztof Korzeniewski, Emilia Bylicka-Szczepanowska and Anna Lass
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Krzysztof Korzeniewski: Department of Epidemiology and Tropical Medicine, Military Institute of Medicine, 128 Szaserów St., 04-141 Warsaw, Poland
Emilia Bylicka-Szczepanowska: 4th Department of Infectious Diseases, Provincial Hospital for Infectious Diseases, 37 Wolska St., 01-201 Warsaw, Poland
Anna Lass: Department of Tropical Parasitology, Institute of Maritime and Tropical Medicine, Medical University of Gdańsk, 9B Powstania Styczniowego St., 81-519 Gdynia, Poland

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 2, 1-14

Abstract: According to the World Health Organization 94% of global malaria cases and 94% of global malaria deaths have been reported from Africa. Unfortunately, it is difficult to determine the exact prevalence of disease in some African countries due to a large number of asymptomatic cases. The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence of malaria infections in seemingly healthy children living in the Central African Republic (CAR). CareStart TM Malaria HRP2 rapid diagnostic test (RDT) targeting Plasmodium falciparum was used to test a group of 500 asymptomatic children aged 1-15 years old (330 settled Bantu and 170 semi-nomadic BaAka Pygmies) inhabiting the villages in the Dzanga Sangha region (south-west CAR) in March 2020. In total, 32.4% of asymptomatic Bantu and 40.6% of asymptomatic Pygmy children had a positive result of malaria RDT. Our findings allowed us to demonstrate the high prevalence of asymptomatic malaria infections in south-west CAR. RDTs seem to be a useful tool for the detection of Plasmodium falciparum in areas with limited possibilities of using other diagnostic methods, such as light microscopy and molecular biology.

Keywords: asymptomatic malaria; Plasmodium falciparum; Dzanga Sangha; Central African Republic (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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