RECENT CHANGE OF LOCALITY AS RISK FACTOR FOR MALARIA FEVER AMONG YOUTH CORPS MEMBERS SERVING IN AHOADA-EAST LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA IN SOUTHERN NIGERIA

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RECENT CHANGE OF LOCALITY AS RISK FACTOR FOR MALARIA FEVER AMONG YOUTH CORPS MEMBERS SERVING IN AHOADA-EAST LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA IN SOUTHERN NIGERIA

Abstract

BACKGROUND
Malaria remains a significant burden to endemic countries despite enormous control efforts. A rational approach to reducing the burden of the disease is to improve the delivery of existing interventions by increasing our understanding of the specific determinants of malaria in semi-immune populations. Travel, a well known determinant of malaria in non-immune travelers to malarious areas, has also been found to be a risk factor for malaria among semi-immune persons who change locality within endemic regions, with further insight, identifying higher transmission intensity at the travel location as the underlying factor. However, evidence of genetic diversity within P. falciparum populations, patients and localities; and of variant-specific immunity to P. falciparum; also seem to explain the increased risk of malaria in semi-immune travelers. This study was conducted to determine if recent change of locality, as a proxy for exposure to new strains of P. falciprum, increased the risk of malaria fever among semi-immune National Youth Service Corps members serving in a district in southern Nigeria.
MEDTHODS
From September 2010 to December 2010 (three months), 96 corps members who had just been posted to Ahoada-East LGA in southern
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Nigeria and 83 others that had been in service for six months, were followed up for malaria fever in a prospective cohort design. Active surveillance was used to obtain reports of fever among the cohort, followed by medical examination at designated local health facilities.
RESULTS
No significant differences in age and use of protection against malaria were found between the study groups. The incidence proportion of malaria for the exposed group (34%) was significantly higher than that of the unexposed group (15.7%). Recent change of locality was associated with malaria fever (RR 2.19, 95% CI 1.24–3.88, AR 54.4%).
CONCLUSION
Recent change of locality within an endemic region, as an indicator of exposure to new variants of P. falciparum for which specific immunity is lacking, is a significant risk factor for malaria fever. Protection against malaria is therefore recommended also for semi-immune individuals moving to new locations with significant risk of malaria transmission.

RECENT CHANGE OF LOCALITY AS RISK FACTOR FOR MALARIA FEVER AMONG YOUTH CORPS MEMBERS SERVING IN AHOADA-EAST LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA IN SOUTHERN NIGERIA

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