Asymptomatic malaria in selected rural health facilities in Vihiga County, Western Kenya

Abstract

Aims: Malaria is still a devastating health challenge in the world. In 2022, Africa accounted for 93.6% of all malaria cases with 95.4% deaths globally. Kenya recorded about 3.5 million new malaria cases with a mortality of 12,011 deaths while Vihiga County had a prevalence of 20% for all symptomatic outpatients. Asymptomatic malaria infection in Kenya was reported as 42% and 10% from two malaria endemic areas. Asymptomatic patients never visit health facilities for treatment but remain Plasmodium falciparum reservoirs in the community. This study assessed the occurrence of asymptomatic malaria around five rural health facilities in a malaria endemic Vihiga County, Western Kenya. Methods: This was a cross-sectional survey targeting 336 participants and running between April 2022 and March 2023. CareStart malaria HRP2 (Pf) was used for sample diagnosis as per manufacturer’s instructions. Demographic and other laboratory parameters of study participants were taken. Results: Chi-square was used to analyse this data. Average percentage prevalence for asymptomatic malaria was 8.3%; (95% CI; 5.3%-10.8%, p<0.05). Age category of below five years had a prevalence of 2.5% (95% CI: 0.6%-9.5%, p>0.05), between five and seventeen years was 10.6% (95% CI: 5.8%-15.2%, p<0.05) and above seventeen years was 9,6% (95% CI: 4.7%-14.6%, p<0.05). Females had a prevalence of 9.6% (95% CI: 5.5%-13.7%, p<0.05) while males had 6.9% (95% CI: 3.5%-11.0%, p<0.05). High quarterly rainfall of 249.7 mm had 12.2% prevalence while low rainfall of 12 mm had 1.2% prevalence of asymptomatic malaria respectively Conclusion: This study demonstrated the presence of asymptomatic malaria participants in Vihiga County, Western Kenya. There were more asymptomatic cases during rainy than dry seasons. This study underscores the need for continued surveillance and treatment of the malaria asymptomatic cases to reduce its spread