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Malaria parasitological indices in the Cordillera Province (Santa Cruz Department, Bolivia)

1992; Maney Publishing; Volume: 86; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/00034983.1992.11812657

1364-8594

Gabriella Cancrini, Alessandro Bartoloni, P Guglielmetti, Mimmo Roselli, Ligia Pereira,

Malaria Research and Control

In 1988–1989, as part of a co-operative programme with the local Unidad Sanitaria, two cross-sectional surveys were carried out to study the prevalence of malaria in eight villages in the rural areas near Camiri, Boyuibe and Gutierrez (Cordillera Province, Santa Cruz Department, Bolivia). Thick and thin blood films were collected from all available two- to nine-year-old children at the end of the dry season, in the first survey (252 samples), and after the rainy season, in the second survey (346 samples). The parasite and gametocyte indices increased between surveys from 1·59–25·72 and from 0·40–1·73, respectively. All infections were due to Plasmodium vivax. Both prevalence and parasite load were lower in children aged two to four years than in older children. Prevalences, parasite loads, and parasite densities were highest in rural areas near Camiri and Gutierrez.