Farukh Imtiaz, Nighat Nisar, Khalid Shafi, Faryal Nawab.
Frequency of Smear Positive Malaria and Socio-demographics Factors of Patients Visiting the Microscopy Center of a Tertiary Care Civil Hospital, Khairpur.
Ann Abbasi Shaheed Hosp Karachi Med Dent Coll Jan ;21(3):154-9.

Objective: The aim of the study was to determine the frequency of smear positive malaria and sociodemographic factors of patients visiting the Microscopy center of Civil hospital Khairpur. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted January 2016 to April 2016 by using structured questionnaire to assess frequency of smear positive malaria among patients visiting Microscopy center of Civil Hospital Khairpur. About 138 patients who were prescribed Malaria Parasite (MP) Test by the doctors were selected by using consecutive sampling technique and interviewed regarding their socio-demographic characteristics. Data was entered and analyzed by using SPSS version 21. Results: Out of total 138 participants, 55.5% were males, Majority were less than forty years of age with highest range of 25-40 years. Malaria parasite test was found to be positive in 6.5 % participants and the most common identified species was Plasmodium Vivax. Conclusion: This study suggests that Malaria is endemic in certain areas of Khairpur District and Plasmodium Vivax is the most common species affecting the people who visited Microscopy centre for the Malaria Parasite (MP) test. Health education and community participation would be needed to eliminate the Malaria from community. Keywords: Frequency of Malaria, endemic, insecticide treated nets, microscopy, Roll Back Malaria IRB: Approved as Masters Research Project by the Research Committee, School of Public Health, Dow University of Health Sciences. Dated: 11th January 2016.

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