Research Article | OPEN ACCESS
Manifestations of Severe Malaria among the Under-five Children Attending Kampala International University Teaching Hospital, Bushenyi, Western Uganda: Pilot Study
1A.O. Ogah, 2J.O.C. Ezeonwumelu, 2A.G. Okoruwa, 2C.P. Adiukwu, 3A.M. Ajayi and 4S. Akib
1Department of Paediatrics
2School of Pharmacy
3Department of Pharmacology
4Department of Diagnostics, School of Health Sciences, Kampala International University, Bushenyi, Uganda
British Journal of Pharmacology and Toxicology 2013 4:128-135
Received: May 13, 2012 | Accepted: August 28, 2012 | Published: August 25, 2013
Abstract
The clinical spectrum of severe malaria has not been described in Bushenyi, hence; this study was carried out to document the prevalence, major clinical features, contributing factors and immediate outcome of this number one killer disease of under-five children, at Kampala International University Teaching Hospital (KIUTH). This is a pilot study. Study design was retrospective; carried out in the records department of KIUTH; the study population were files of children, 5 years of age and below who attended KIUTH between August and October 2009, sample size was 100 using systematic random sampling. Ethical clearance and permission were obtained. Data was collected using checklist, entered into Epi-Info version 3.2 and analysed with SPSS 16 statistical software. Prevalence of complicated malaria was 29.8%. Male: female ratio was 1.33:1. Peak age was 3years, 78% of the children had no wasting and 62% slept under treated bed nets. The three most common presentations were febrile multiple convulsions (69%), hyperparasitemia (67%) and circulatory shock (59%), prolonged coma was the least presentation (30%). The infants most commonly present with severe anaemia (60%), while the older ones manifest usually with febrile multiple convulsions (76.9%). Mortality rate was 14%, higher in the malnourished (27.3%), boys (19.3%), age 5year bracket (23.1%), with hypoglycaemia (18.8%), respiratory distress (17.9%) and multiple febrile convulsions (17.4%). The prevalence and mortality from severe malaria was high. The most common presentations were multiple febrile convulsions, hyperparasitaemia and circulatory shock. Immediate outcome was significantly affected by the nutritional status. A larger study will be done in future for a more
complete picture of this problem.
Keywords:
Bushenyi, KIUTH, manifestations, severe malaria, under fives, Uganda,
Competing interests
The authors have no competing interests.
Open Access Policy
This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.
Copyright
The authors have no competing interests.
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ISSN (Online): 2044-2467
ISSN (Print): 2044-2459 |
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