Abstract

Background: Malaria is one of the major public health problems. Currently, almost 100 countries or territories in the world are considered to be affected by malaria, with Africa and South of Sahara accounting for half of them. The estimation of WHO is that 1.7 to 2.5 million deaths and 300 to 500 million cases of malaria occur each year globally. The disease is distributed in all parts of India.
Objective: To find out the prevalence of different species of malaria in Surendranagar district (Gujarat, India) and compar - ison of different hematological parameters between the species. Basic procedure includes all patients revealing malaria infection by any species. Material and Methods: Hematological parameters such as hemoglobin (Hb), packed cell volume (PCV), mean corpus- cular volume (MCV), total leukocyte count (TLC), platelet count, and red cell distribution width (RDW) were determined by using automated cell counter, and peripheral smear examination for malarial parasite was taken as gold standard for diagnosis of malaria. Result: Of the 129 patients, 60 patients revealed Plasmodium falciparum malaria and 69 patients revealed Plasmodium vivax malaria; other species has not been identified in this region. Anemia (Hb < 10 g/dL, p = 0.00), platelet count (<50,000 3 cells/mm , p = 0.01), and PCV(<35%, p = 0.00) were the best favoring parameters of P. falciparum when compared with P. vivax. Conclusion: We concluded that prevalence of P. vivax was higher than P. falciparum in southeast region of Saurashtra and that P. falciparum compared with P. vivax can cause significant hematologic changes with high frequency of throm - bocytopenia, anemia, and decreased PCV. The blood changes are so characteristic that the diagnosis of malaria should always be considered in the presence of aforementioned findings.