A retrospective study of malaria outbreak in children of a defence establishment in Gujarat State of India

Introduction: Malaria is a major health threat in India. Many states including Gujarat reported local and focal outbreaks of malaria from 1997 to 2006. A defence establishment located in western part of India suffered from an epidemic of BT malaria in 2005, which was confirmed by epidemiological investigation. Material and methods: An outbreak of malaria occurred in a closed defence campus was investigated by an epidemiologist and was confirmed as an epidemic. Measures advised for its control and further prevention were strictly implemented to control it. The study is based on the reported information and data collected at the time of investigation. Results: In a population of 4832 in a closed campus, 363 cases were reported with high slide positivity rate of 27.07 percent and overall API of 75.12 per thousand populations. The incidence was relatively higher among the children below 16 years with a very high API of 156.43 in 6-11 years’ age group. High spleen rate and infant parasite rate confirmed the local transmission of malaria. An excessive breeding of vector was noticed as several places. Discussion: The campus suffered from BT malaria epidemic with very high API among younger population of school going children mainly due to local transmission caused by An. stephensi. Vectoe was found breeding heavily in pools, ditches, overhead tanks and static tanks. The epidemic resulted due to insincere efforts in implementing anti-malaria activities. Conclusion: The epidemic affected all age groups with a very high incidence in pre-school and school going children especially 6-11 years’ age group. Lack of anti-malaria activities, uncontrolled breeding of anopheles in the campus, delay in diagnosis and treatment, poor reporting, record maintenance and follow up of the cases were the causes of the epidemic. It was effectively controlled by implementing measures of control suggested by the epidemiologist.