Epidemiology of Malaria in Ardabil Province, 1999- 2000

Backgrond & In recent years, malaria has been a serious problem in Parsabad (a north-western town in Iran). A lot of health-care funding has been allocated to malaria campaign program in this area. The objective of this study was to investigate clinical epidemiology of malaria during 1999-2000. The data collected through epidemiology forms filled for 509 malaria positive cases during 1999- 2000 was analyzed by EPI2000 software. Frequency tables, X2 test and one way ANOVA were used in this analysis. All 509 Malaria cases diagnosed were P vivax. They belonged to the first seven-month of the year. 69.4% of malaria cases were related to the year 2000 and the others were related to 1999. The most frequent symptoms were chills in 488 cases (95.9%) and fever in 481 of them (94.5%). Sweating was found only in 3.9% of the reported cases. Mean age and standard deviation of patients was 22.9 + 15.6. There was no significant difference between men and women in terms of the distribution of fever and chills. The high prevalence of fever and chills was compatible with the findings of previous studies. If one of the two symptoms is positive in the residents of this area or those people traveling there, malaria should be suspected.