TITLE:
Suspected Malaria Outbreak Investigations in Baure LGA, Katsina State, Nigeria
AUTHORS:
Jalal-Eddeen Abubakar Saleh, Abdullahi Saddiq, Haruna Ismaila Adamu, Rex Mpazanje, Bala Mohammed Audu
KEYWORDS:
Malaria, Outbreak Investigations, DSNO, Rapid Diagnostic Test, Surveillance, Patent Medicine Vendors, Artemisinin Combination Treatment, IPTp, Katsina State, Baure Local Government, Nigeria, WHO
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Access Library Journal,
Vol.6 No.7,
July
4,
2019
ABSTRACT: Background: Malaria, a disease that is endemic in Nigeria and contributing up to 25 per cent of infant mortality and 30 per cent of under-five mortality, is among the 17 per cent of the global burden of infectious diseases. Nigeria, which has 27 per cent malaria prevalence, is among the top eleven high-burden countries globally. In September 2018, a team headed by the World Health Or-ganisation in Nigeria investigated a suspected malaria outbreak in Baure local government area of Katsina state northwestern Nigeria. Methods: We reviewed clinical records of 30 patients who were presented to the health facility with febrile illness, investigated and treated from 10th-24th September 2018. The data used during the study included age, sex, residential address, signs and symptoms. A cross-sectional survey was carried out in the Epicentre of the suspected outbreak to assess the knowledge of the caregivers on malaria control measures and look at the coverage of the seasonal malaria chemoprevention (SMC) running in the area for the third year. The data were analysed using Excel. Results: Out of the 30 reported cases, 27 (90%) were tested positive for RDT and 3 (10%) were tested negative. The age range of the cases was from three months to 70 years (median: 14 years), sex distribution F 16 (59%) and M 11 (41%) and CFR 3.7% (1/27). An SMC coverage survey shows that out of 86 HHs, 79 (91.86%) had SMC cards for the last two cycles of 2018. On the knowledge of caregivers on malaria preventive measures, 80% (8/10) were aware that mosquitoes transmit malaria, and 100% (10/10) had knowledge on at least one preventive measure against the disease. Conclusion: Although government commitment to malaria control is commendable, there is the need for state malaria control programme to intensify health education programmes on environmental hygiene, to strengthen awareness campaigns on the available malaria interventions and to improve access to the interventions especially for the more vulnerable members of the community.