A SURVEY OF MALARIA IN GHANA, WEST AFRICA
1986 Volume 14 Issue 1 Pages 7-12
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1986 Volume 14 Issue 1 Pages 7-12
A survey of malaria infection was carried out in a rural community in Ghana, West Africa, during the dry and rainy seasons in 1984. Three Plasmodium species; Plasmodium falciparum, P. malariae and P. ovale were detected and P. falciparum was the most dominant species of the three. Through this survey, two interesting differences were found in the prevalence and distribution of P. falciparum and P. malariae.
First, the positive rate of P. falciparum in the rainy season (33%) much exceeded that of the dry season (15%), but the rate of P. malariae in the rainy season (1.3%) tended to increase in the dry season (3.4%) conversely.
Second, the distribution pattern of the positive cases of both malaria species in the village in the dry season was also different. The higher positive rate of P. falciparum was observed in the part of the village nearer to the ponds, which were suspected to be the main breeding place of Anopheles mosquitoes. On the other hand, the distribution pattern of the positive cases of P. malariae did not show this tendency.
