Rainy-season prevalence of malaria in Bobonaro district, East Timor
Bragonier, R.; Reyburn, H.; Nasveld, P.; Edstein, M.; Auliffe, A.
Annals of Tropical Medicine and Parasitology 96(7): 739-743
2003
ISSN/ISBN: 0003-4983 PMID: 12537636 DOI: 10.1179/000349802125008143Document Number: 236727
A study was conducted to characterize malaria transmission in 7 villages in Bobonaro district, in north-western East Timor during 2001. Overall, 1426 subjects were included in the first survey and 1250 in the second; 84.3% of subjects sampled in the second survey had been sampled in the first. Plasmodium vivax and P. falciparum were the main species detected, although 4 cases of P. malariae infection were identified during the second survey. The prevalences of P. vivax or P. falciparum infection varied widely between the villages surveyed, indicating significant variation over a relatively small area. Between the beginning and end of the rainy season, the prevalence of P. falciparum amongst the combined study villages increased significantly (P<0.001) whereas the prevalence of P. vivax did not (P=0.53), indicating that there is greater seasonality in the transmission of P. falciparum than in the transmission of P. vivax. It is concluded that there is a relatively low level of malarial transmission in Bobonaro district, with significant local and seasonal variation.