Prevalence of Malaria Infection among Patience Suspected of Typhoid Fever at the Bamenda and Bafoussam Regional Hospital

Abstract

Purpose: Malaria is one of the febrile illnesses and the most common fatal disease in the world caused by one or more species of Plasmodium. Because malaria and typhoid fever usually display similar symptoms, malaria patients are likely to be suspected of typhoid fever, especially when they do not respond to the malaria first line medication. To determine the prevalence of malaria infection among patients suspected of typhoid fever in the Bamenda and Bafousam regional hospitals. Methodology: This study was a descriptive cross sectional study in which participants were recruited by convenience. The population for this study was volunteer patients suspected of typhoid fever by the respective hospital physicians. Blood samples were collected and Rapid Diagnostic Test was carried out, as well as thin and thick blood films. Data was analyzed using SPSS V20.0. Chi-square test was used to assess the association between results with a p-value of 0.05 considered significant at 95% confidence interval. Results: A total of 356 patients suspected of typhoid fever were contacted for the study of which 337 signed the consent form and took part in the study from the two targetted Regional Hospitals giving a participation rate of 94.66%. Among the participants, 195[57.9%] were from the Bamenda regional hospital while 142[42.1%] were from the Bafoussam regional hospital. Majority 65.9% of the participants were females recorded in both hospitals. An overall prevalence of 37.4% was recorded in both the Bafoussam and Bamenda regional hospital there was thus no statistical significant difference between the result gotten from the two Regional Hospitals [p=0.3]. The age group with the highest prevalence was that of 10-29 years. More than 90% of infections were caused by Plasmodium falciparum while about 3% of the infections were due to Plasmodium vivax. The prevalence of malaria infections in patients suspected of typhoid fever in the Bamenda and Bafoussam Regional Hospitals is 37.4%, and more women were infected than males. Unique Contribution to Theory, Practice and Policy:  We advocated that proper malaria investigation of suspected cases should be carried out before embarking into typhoid fever treatment. This study have saved as an eye opener to medical practitioners to test both typhoid and malaria for all patients presenting with such signs and symptoms.