BACKGROUND Ethiopia has made a significant progress of malaria control. Currently, the country has adopted and is implementing the World Health Organization very ambitious, but achievable, malaria elimination plan through extensive efforts. The regular evaluation of its performance is vital for plausible improvement. Thus, the aim of this study was to determine the trends of malaria infection in Boricha district, Southern Ethiopia. METHODS A retrospective study was conducted in all health facilities of the district. All malaria cases registered during 2010 to 2017 were reviewed to determine the trends of malaria morbidity. EpiData 3.1 was used for data entry and data were analysed using SPSS version 20.0. RESULTS A total of 135,607 malaria suspects were diagnosed using microscopy and rapid diagnostic test over the last 8 years, of which 29,554 (21.8%) were confirmed positive cases. Plasmodium falciparum, Plasmodium vivax and mixed infections (both species) accounted for 56.3%, 38.4% and 5.2% of cases, respectively. Except in 2013 and 2014, Plasmodium falciparum was the dominant species over P. vivax. Of the total confirmed cases 51.6% were adults (≥ 15 years) followed by 24.5% of 5-14 years, and 23.9% of under 5 years. In general, malaria morbidity was significantly reduced over the last 8 years. The positivity rate declined from 54.6% to 5% during 2010 to 2017, and the case incidence rate per 1000 population at risk also declined from 18.9 to 2.2 during the same period. Malaria was reported in all months of the year, with peaks in November, followed by September and July. Malaria transmission has strong association with season (x2 = 303.955, df = 22, p < 0.0001). CONCLUSION In general, a significant reduction of malaria morbidity was observed over the past 8 years. However, further investigation using advanced diagnostic tools is vital to determine the level of sub-microscopic infections to guide the elimination plan. In addition, eco-epidemiological analysis at fine-scale level is essential to devise area-specific interventions.

中文翻译：

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埃塞俄比亚南部Boricha区2010年至2017年疟疾趋势分析。

背景技术埃塞俄比亚在控制疟疾方面取得了重大进展。目前，该国通过广泛的努力，已经通过并正在实施世界卫生组织的雄心勃勃但可实现的消除疟疾计划。定期评估其性能对于合理的改进至关重要。因此，本研究的目的是确定埃塞俄比亚南部博里贾区的疟疾感染趋势。方法对该地区所有医疗机构进行了回顾性研究。审查了2010年至2017年期间登记的所有疟疾病例，以确定疟疾发病率的趋势。EpiData 3.1用于数据输入，并使用SPSS 20.0版分析数据。结果在过去8年中，通过显微镜和快速诊断测试共诊断出135,607名疟疾可疑患者，其中29名 554例（21.8％）被确认为阳性病例。恶性疟原虫，间日疟原虫和混合感染（两种）分别占病例的56.3％，38.4％和5.2％。除2013年和2014年以外，恶性疟原虫是间日疟原虫的优势种。在总确诊病例中，成年人（≥15岁）占51.6％，其次是5-14岁的成年人占24.5％，5岁以下的成年人占23.9％。总体而言，过去8年中疟疾的发病率显着降低。在2010年至2017年期间，阳性率从54.6％下降到5％，同期每1000名处于危险中的人口的病例发生率也从18.9下降到2.2。全年所有月份都报告了疟疾，11月达到峰值，随后是9月和7月。疟疾传播与季节密切相关（x2 = 303.955，df = 22，p <0.0001）。结论总体而言，过去8年中疟疾发病率显着降低。但是，使用高级诊断工具进行进一步调查对于确定亚显微感染的水平以指导消除计划至关重要。此外，进行细微的生态流行病学分析对于制定针对特定地区的干预措施至关重要。