Abstract:

To analyze the epidemiological characteristics of malaria in Zibo City, Shandong Province, as a scientific basis for consolidating the elimination of malaria, the epidemiological data on malaria cases identified in this region from 2014 to 2018 were collected. The epidemic situation, infection source and species, the distribution of cases in different regions, gender, age, occupations and season, malaria diagnosis and treatment were analyzed using Microsoft Excel 2007 software. The results showed that total 30 cases of malaria were reported in Zibo, Shandong Province from 2014-2018, and the average annual incidence rate was 0.6/10 million. All cases were imported from Africa, mainly from 11 African countries including Nigeria(12 cases, 40.0%) and Mozambique (6, 20.0%). Most of the cases were falciparum malaria(26 cases, 86.7%). All cases were adult males, aged 23-60 years with the average age of 38 years old. Most of the cases were labor exporters to Africa including project workers and farmers(28 cases, 93.3%). Regarding the regional distribution of the cases, 8 counties(districts)in Zibo administrative region had reported malaria cases with highest case number in Zhangdian District(12 cases, 40.0%). Only one case was reported in each Gaoqing County and Wuyuan County(1 case, 3.3%). Regarding the case monthly distribution, the most cases were reported in October(7 cases)followed by January(5 cases), September(5 cases) and November(3 cases). There were no case reported in May. The time from disease onset to visiting doctor varied from 0 day to 16 days with average time of 3.1 days. All cases were diagnosed as malaria within 24 hours of doctor visit except for one case that was diagnosed as malaria 7 days after the first doctor visit (3.3%). The local hospital was the preferred selection for patients to visit after onset of the disease(22 cases, 73.3%), followed by the local Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (8 cases, 26.7%). Total 25 out of 30 cases received confirmed diagnosis of malaria during the first visit and these medication facilities owned good experience and capacity to diagnose malaria with 83.3% accuracy of diagnosing malaria.

Key words: Malaria, Epidemiological characteristics, Zibo City