The malaria and typhoid fever burden in the slums of Kolkata, India: data from a prospective community-based study.
Recent research has indicated that the malaria burden in Asia may have been vastly underestimated. We conducted a prospective community-based study in an impoverished urban site in Kolkata, India, to estimate the burden of malaria and typhoid fever and to identify risk factors for these diseases. In a population of 60452 people, 3605 fever episodes were detected over a 12-month period. The blood films of 93 febrile patients contained Plasmodium (90 P. vivax, 2 P. falciparum and 1 P. malariae). Blood cultures from 95 patients grew Salmonella enterica serotype Typhi. Malaria patients were found to be significantly older (mean age 29 years) compared with patients with typhoid fever (15 years; P<0.001) but had similar clinical features on presentation. Having a household member with malaria, illiteracy, low household income and living in a structure not built of bricks were associated with an increased risk for malaria. Having a household member with typhoid fever and poor hygiene were associated with typhoid fever. A geographic analysis of the spatial distribution of malaria and typhoid fever cases detected high-risk neighbourhoods for each disease. Focal interventions to minimise human-vector contact and improved personal hygiene and targeted vaccination campaigns could help to prevent malaria and typhoid fever in this site.
Sur
Dipika
D
National Institute of Cholera and Enteric Diseases, P-33 CIT Rd. Scheme - XM, Beliaghata, Kolkata 700010, India.
von Seidlein
Lorenz
L
Manna
Byomkesh
B
Dutta
Shanta
S
Deb
Alok K
AK
Sarkar
Banwari Lal
BL
Kanungo
Suman
S
Deen
Jacqueline L
JL
Ali
Mohammad
M
Kim
Deok Ryun
DR
Gupta
Vinay Kumar
VK
Ochiai
R Leon
RL
Tsuzuki
Ataru
A
Acosta
Camilo J
CJ
Clemens
John D
JD
Bhattacharya
Sujit K
SK
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007194:India / Q000453:epidemiology; D007223:Infant; D008288:Malaria / Q000453:epidemiology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011204:Poverty Areas; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D012307:Risk Factors; D014435:Typhoid Fever / Q000453:epidemiology*; D014504:Urban Health