ArticleMalaria journal2022
Clinical characteristics of Plasmodium falciparum infection among symptomatic patients presenting to a major urban military hospital in Cameroon.
Article in Malaria journal, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
5 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 7 citations in OpenAlex.
- Urban malaria and population mobility in sub-Saharan Africa: systematic review and meta-analysis.Malaria journal · 2025Pooled it
- Epidemiology of ovale, vivax and falciparum malaria in the highlands of Cameroon: An integrated community survey of human infection and vector abundance.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2025Article
- Epidemiology of Relapsing and Falciparum Malaria in the Highlands of Cameroon: An Integrated Community Survey of Human Infection and Vector Abundance.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2025Article
- A Five-Year Malaria Prevalence/Frequency in Makenene in a Forest-Savannah Transition Ecozone of Central Cameroon: The Results of a Retrospective Study.Tropical medicine and infectious disease · 2024Article
- Epidémiology of malaria from 2019 to 2021 in the southeastern city of Franceville, Gabon.BMC public health · 2022Article
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15 authors at 5 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundUrban malaria has received insufficient attention in the literature. The prevalence and clinical characteristics of Plasmodium falciparum infection amongst patients presenting with suspected malaria were investigated at a major urban hospital in Douala, Cameroon with a particular focus on anaemia.
methodsA cross-sectional, 18-week demographic and clinical survey was conducted of patients presenting to the Emergency Department of Douala Military Hospital with suspected malaria, largely defined by the presence or recent history of fever. Venous samples were tested for P. falciparum using rapid diagnostic tests and PCR, and anaemia was defined by haemoglobin level according to WHO definitions. Likelihood ratios (LR), odds ratios (OR), and population attributable risk percent (PARP) were calculated.
resultsParticipants were ages 8 months to 86 years, 51% were women (257/503), and all districts of Douala were represented. Overall, 38.0% (n = 189/497) were anaemic, including 5.2% (n = 26/497) with severe anaemia. Anaemia prevalence was significantly higher (OR: 2.20, 95% CI 1.41-3.45) among children < 15 years (53.1%, n = 52/98) compared to adults (34%, n = 133/392). Plasmodium falciparum was detected in 37.2% by nested PCR. Among all participants, several factors were associated with clinically significant LR for P. falciparum infection, including age 10-14 years (positive LR: 3.73), living in the island district of Douala VI (positive LR: 3.41), travel to any of three northern regions (positive LR: 5.11), and high fever > 40 °C at presentation (positive LR: 4.83). Among all participants, 8.7% of anaemia was associated with P. falciparum infection, while the PARP was 33.2% among those < 15 years of age and 81.0% among 10-14-year-olds.
conclusionsThe prevalence of P. falciparum infection in the urban hospital was high. Mirroring trends in many rural African settings, older children had the highest positivity rate for P. falciparum infection. Anaemia was also common in all age groups, and for those 10-14 years of age, 80% of the risk for anaemia was associated with P. falciparum infection. Malaria rates in major urban population centres can be high, and more research into the multifactorial causes of anaemia across the age spectrum are needed.
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