Mortality and morbidity from malaria among children in a rural area of The Gambia, West Africa.
Mortality and morbidity from malaria were measured among 3000 children under the age of 7 years in a rural area of The Gambia, West Africa. Using a post-mortem questionnaire technique, malaria was identified as the probable cause of 4% of infant deaths and of 25% of deaths in children aged 1 to 4 years. The malaria mortality rate was 6.3 per 1000 per year in infants and 10.7 per 1000 per year in children aged 1 to 4 years. Morbidity surveys suggested that children under the age of 7 years experienced about one clinical episode of malaria per year. Calculation of attributable fractions showed that malaria may be responsible for about 40% of episodes of fever in children. Although the overall level of parasitaemia showed little seasonal variation, the clinical impact of malaria was highly seasonal; all malaria deaths and a high proportion of febrile episodes were recorded during a limited period at the end of the rainy season.
Greenwood
B M
BM
Medical Research Council Laboratories, Fajara, Banjul, The Gambia.
Bradley
A K
AK
Greenwood
A M
AM
Byass
P
P
Jammeh
K
K
Marsh
K
K
Tulloch
S
S
Oldfield
F S
FS
Hayes
R
R
D000367:Age Factors; D000818:Animals; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D005714:Gambia; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008288:Malaria / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000401:mortality / Q000469:parasitology; D008297:Male; D010963:Plasmodium falciparum / Q000302:isolation & purification; D010965:Plasmodium malariae / Q000302:isolation & purification; D012621:Seasons; D013696:Temperature