Prevalence of Malaria Parasites among Febrile Patients in a Teaching Hospital in South East Nigeria

Background: Malaria remains a global health threat affecting approximately 97% of the population in sub-Saharan African countries, particularly Nigeria. Despite efforts made to reduce the mortality rate in Nigeria, the disease still poses a major morbidity challenge. Aim: This study, therefore, was aimed at identifying malaria prevalence in symptomatic febrile patients attending David Umahi Federal University Teaching Hospital, Uburu Ebonyi State, Nigeria. Methods: A hospital-based cross-sectional study was conducted with primarily structured data collected from the hospital medical laboratory between September 2023 and April 2024 among 613 febrile patients attending David Umahi Federal University Teaching Hospital, Uburu Ebonyi State, Nigeria using microscopy (thick and thin blood films). Primarily structured data was used to collect data on sociodemographic characteristics and factors perceived to be associated with Plasmodium infection. Malaria Parasitological Record Book data was collected, while thin and thick blood films were prepared from capillary blood buffy coat samples. Data were analyzed using Excel, Python, and Google Sheets. Out of 613 febrile patients, 480 were confirmed to be infected by Plasmodium species. Results: Our results, thus, showed a malaria prevalence of (78%) of the study population. The age groups 31 - 40 years constituted the greater proportions of the population with malaria parasite infection 18.5% (89). On the basis of gender, the highest prevalence occurred in females (297) constituting 61.9% of the positive malaria cases observed in this study. Conclusion: It is recommended that a malaria surveillance unit be established to help standardize data collection and monitoring of malaria patients in teaching hospitals, while Molecular Malaria Surveillance (MMS) also needs to be introduced in teaching hospitals in line with international best practices.