Environmental factors as determinants of malaria risk. A descriptive study on the northern coast of Peru

We conducted a series of studies on the northern Pacific coast of Peru to determine environmental risk factors for malaria. We report in this paper the results of both a descriptive study of incidence and a prevalence survey of malaria. Both studies showed that the area was at low risk for malaria....

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Tropical medicine & international health 2002-06, Vol.7 (6), p.518-525
Main Authors: Guthmann, J. P., Llanos‐Cuentas, A., Palacios, A., Hall, A. J.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult
Biological and medical sciences
Child
Child, Preschool
Environment
environmental risk factors
Epidemiologic Methods
epidemiology
Female
Human protozoal diseases
Humans
Incidence
incidence rate
Infant
Infectious diseases
Malaria
malaria mortality
Malaria, Falciparum - epidemiology
Malaria, Vivax - epidemiology
Male
Medical sciences
Middle Aged
parasite rate
Parasitic diseases
Peru
Peru - epidemiology
Prevalence
Protozoal diseases
Risk Factors
Seasons
spleen rate
Tropical medicine
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Summary:We conducted a series of studies on the northern Pacific coast of Peru to determine environmental risk factors for malaria. We report in this paper the results of both a descriptive study of incidence and a prevalence survey of malaria. Both studies showed that the area was at low risk for malaria. The malaria incidence rate was 40/1000 p.a. during the study period, and the prevalence of infection was 0.9% (95% CI: 0.4–1.7) before and 1.4% (95% CI: 0.8–2.2) after the high incidence period. However, the risk of malaria varied according to season, village and even house within a single village. Incidence rates increased from February (2.6/1000 p.a.) to May (12.9/1000 p.a.) and decreased during the second part of the year. Most of the cases were clustered in four villages that constituted only 21% of the total population of the area. Houses where multiple cases were recorded were often located near a source of water. Our observations suggested that environmental factors, and particularly the presence of water for irrigation around villages and houses, played a major role in determining the risk of malaria. These observations were extended through an entomological study and a case–control study, to be published elsewhere.
ISSN:1360-2276
1365-3156
DOI:10.1046/j.1365-3156.2002.00883.x