Malariometric indices from Iganga, Uganda: baseline characterization in preparation of GMZ2 vaccine trial.
BACKGROUND
Malaria still remains the leading cause of childhood morbidity and mortality in Uganda. Interventions like malaria vaccines which reduce the malaria burden are needed in malaria endemic communities. There is need to establish baseline characteristics in vaccine trial study sites. This study determined the following baseline malariometric indices: spleen rates, bed net use, malaria parasitaemia and malaria episodes in an inception cohort of children aged 12 - 60 months in Iganga district, Uganda.


METHODS
In a longitudinal cohort study, 748 children were enrolled with 397 in an active follow up arm and 351 in a passive arm. The children in the two arms were followed for 6 months to determine the incidence of malaria episodes.


RESULTS
The overall baseline spleen rate was 8.2% (61/748) among the study participants. Of the households surveyed, about 36% reported using bed nets and almost 30% of the users had insecticide-treated nets. 274 (36.6%) of the study participants had a history of fever in the past 24 hrs at the time of the baseline survey. All participants had a peripheral blood smear for malaria parasites done at enrollment with 76.8% having the asexual form of malaria parasites. The malaria episodes per child per year were 1.5 and 0.79 in the active and passive follow up arms respectively.


CONCLUSIONS
There is a high prevalence of malaria asexual parasitaemia in children below five years. The bed net usage still remains low among this population. These baseline malariometric indices have important implication for malaria control interventions.
Mark
M
Kaddumukasa
Makerere University College of Health Sciences, Kampala, Uganda. wbuwembo@yahoo.com.
William
W
Buwembo
Musa
M
Sekikubo
Halima
H
Naiwumbwe
Fatuma
F
Namusoke
Stephen
S
Kiwuwa
Brenda
B
Oketch
Ramadhani
R
Noor
Roma
R
Chilengi
Edison
E
Mworozi
Fred
F
Kironde
D017677:Age Distribution; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007223:Infant; D057148:Insecticide-Treated Bednets; D008288:Malaria / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000276:immunology* / Q000517:prevention & control*; D017780:Malaria Vaccines / Q000276:immunology*; D013997:Time Factors; D014454:Uganda / Q000453:epidemiology
C000599052:GMZ2 vaccine; D017780:Malaria Vaccines