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Awareness and practices regarding malaria in clinical suspects and the alarming slide positivity rate amongst them: a hospital based study from Delhi.

It has been repeatedly reported that lack of effective community participation in malaria control strategies has been partly responsible for high incidence of malaria in India. Active involvement of community in malaria control is a function of the awareness of that community. The present study was conceived with the objective to study the awareness and practices regarding malaria among fever cases clinically suspected of malaria and to assess the slide positivity rate among the same. Awareness and practices of 101 consecutive clinically suspected malaria cases (presenting with fever) attending medical OPD in Satyawadi Raja Harishchandra Hospital, Narela in North West district of Delhi regarding malaria were assessed using a 37 item pre-tested, semi-structured, semi-open ended, and Investigator administered questionnaire. Thin blood films were made for these patients and stained by Romanowski's method using Leishman's stain and reported by haematologist in the Department of Pathology, UCMS & GTB Hospital, Delhi. 37.5% patients had fever ranging from 1-3 days & 60% patients knew of chills and rigors as a symptom of malaria. While 80.2% patients correctly reported that malaria is caused by mosquito, only 52% patients stated that water should not be allowed to stagnate in order to prevent mosquito breeding. 61% patients did not get their houses sprayed with insecticides in last one year. 85.4% patients used one or more methods for personal protection against malaria. On laboratory examination 21% peripheral smears were found to be positive for Plasmodium vivax. Respondents were found to have modest knowledge regarding malaria. Relatively high malaria positivity was seen in malaria suspects. These aspects need to be addressed by the programme managers.