Asymptomatic Malaria Carriage in South-Western Burkina Faso: An Epidemiological Analysis

Background: Burkina Faso is challenged by rise in malaria incidence and insecticide and drug resistance. We investigated the prevalence of asymptomatic infection of Plasmodium falciparum. over three surveys.Subjects dan Method: We conducted repeated cross-sectional surveys in September and December 2016 and June 2017 in Diebougou health district. An initial census identified 4,028 subjects aged 6 months to 18 years. The independent variables included the age or date of birth, dependant were the area of residence, the use of bed nets, presence of not of parasites, the period of the surveys and the presence or absence of clinical signs/symptoms/fever, the gender. We used electronic case report forms for data collection, then uploaded into electronic tablets PCs, transferred to a central server. Data were analyzed with R version 3.4.3 software. Baseline charac­teristics were described using descriptive statistics. A bivariate analysis was done to describe the overall malaria prevalence using Chi-squared or Fisher Exact test. Simple and multiple logistic regressions served to determine effect of socio-demographic characteristics and season on both symptomatic and asymptomatic malaria cases.Results: Three malaria active case detection surveys were conducted on 2,839, 2,594 and 2,337 eligible subjects in September 2016, December 2016, and June 2017 respectively. There was high proportion of parasitemia ranging from 31.6% to 43.5% whereas malaria clinical cases ranged from 6.8% in June to 23.81% in September. Age, gender, season, and village variables were significantly associated with asymptomatic malaria carriage. Sleeping under a bednet the night before the survey was found to be protective against asymptomatic malaria.Conclusion: This study has reported high prevalence of malaria infection. The young population was more concerned and September was the period of highest carriage.Keywords: asymptomatic malaria carriage, active case detection, age.Correspondence: Issaka Z