First Detection of Malaria in Dry Season in Dakar Senegal

Introduction: With 225 million people ill and 781,000 deaths in 2009, malaria remains the most important parasitic disease in the world.80% of cases occur in sub-Saharan Africa. Senegal, which is located in the high-risk area, devotes a lot of resources in the fight against this disease. This is in such context that we have carried out this retrospective study of malaria cases at ABASS NDAO Hospital (CHAN).

Materials and Methods: This study, involving 486 ​​patients, was conducted from January 2011 to June2011. Data on the sex of the patients were recorded. Screening methods used are thick film, blood smear and Rapid Diagnostic Test (RDT).

Results: A total of 486 subjects were tested for malaria diagnosis and 33 patients were identified, only one case is due to the Plasmodium malariae, others are caused by the Plasmodium falciparum. The hospital prevalence of malaria according to this study is 6.79% (33/486). A significant monthly variation was observed for the number of cases: 17 cases in January, 4 cases in March, 1 case in April,1 in May and none in June. Both men and women are affected by malaria, but with a number of cases slightly higher among men: 19 malaria cases against 14 cases for women.

Conclusion: During period of low transmission (January-June) the prevalence of malaria in Dakar is high, caused by the Plasmodium falciparum. More effort should be made in the fight against this epidemic in urban and suburban areas.