Assessment of malaria prevalence among school children in rural areas of Bannu District Khyber Pakhtunkhwa,Pakistan

To assess the prevalence of malaria among the primary school students in rural areas of bannu district,a parasitological survey was conducted during april - may 2003. a total of 556 schools children (ages 5-15 years) from 11 school were examined by a smear survey,17 (3.06%) were found positive for malaria parasite. plasmodium vivax was more frequent (2.69%) than plasmodium falciparum (0.35%). malaria was equally prevalent among male (3.06%) and female (3.03%) children. the prevalence of malaria was slightly higher in children from houses having no wire-screen in windows (3.6%) than the once from houses fitted with wire-screen in windows (1.42%). the prevalence of malaria was higher in children who slept outdoor (4.78%) than in those who slept indoor (1.84%). there was no statistically significant difference between the prevalent rates of malaria in children having domestic animals in their houses (3.61%) and in those having no domestic animals in their houses (2.04%). the intensity of malaria parasite assessed as the number of parasite per 10 wbcs varied from 2 to 13. copyright 2012 zoological society of pakistan.