Volume 22, Number 8—August 2016
Dispatch
Asymptomatic Plasmodium Infections in Children in Low Malaria Transmission Setting, Southwestern Uganda1
, and Yap Boum3
Table 1
Characteristics of asymptomatic children surveyed for Plasmodium infections, by district, southwestern Uganda*
| Characteristic | District† |
p value‡ | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mbarara, n = 242 | Bushenyi, n = 157 | Isingiro, n = 232 | Total, N = 631† | ||
| Mean age, y ± SD |
2.4 ± 1.2 |
2.3 ± 1.2 |
2.4 ± 1.3 |
2.4 ± 1.3 |
0.850 |
| Sex | |||||
| M | 122 (50.4) | 80 (51.0) | 120 (51.7) | 322 (51.0) | 0.958 |
| F |
120 (49.6) |
77 (49.0) |
112 (48.3) |
309 (49.0) |
|
| Rural |
177 (73.1) |
133 (84.7) |
202 (87.1) |
512 (81.1) |
0.472 |
| Wealth quartile | <0.001 | ||||
| 1st | 42 (17.4) | 45 (28.7) | 97 (41.8) | 184 (29.2) | |
| 2nd | 27 (11.2) | 58 (36.9) | 55 (23.7) | 140 (22.2) | |
| 3rd | 83 (34.3) | 32 (20.4) | 56 (24.1) | 171 (27.1) | |
| 4th |
90 (37.2) |
22 (14.0) |
24 (10.3) |
136 (21.6) |
|
| Roofing material | <0.001 | ||||
| Corrugated metal | 237 (97.9) | 152 (96.8) | 206 (88.8) | 595 (94.3) | |
| Thatch or leaf | 3 (1.2) | 5 (3.2) | 17 (7.3) | 25 (4.0) | |
| Other |
2 (0.8) |
0 |
9 (3.9) |
11 (1.7) |
|
| Household crowding§ | 0.239 | ||||
| 1–2 | 68 (28.1) | 52 (33.1) | 61 (26.3) | 181 (28.7) | |
| 3 | 123 (50.8) | 71 (45.2) | 134 (57.8) | 328 (52.0) | |
| >4 |
51 (21.1) |
34 (21.7) |
37 (16.0) |
122 (19.3) |
|
| Consistent bed net use | 228 (94.2) | 151 (96.2) | 198 (85.7) | 577 (91.6) | 0.003 |
| Indoor residual spraying |
4 (1.7) |
1 (0.6) |
0 |
5 (0.8) |
0.122 |
| Malaria prevalence | |||||
| By RDT | 4 (1.7) | 8 (5.1) | 30 (13.0) | 42 (6.7) | <0.001 |
| Pf+ | 1 | 3 | 7 | 11 | |
| Pan+ | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 | |
| Pf/Pan+ | 1 | 5 | 22 | 28 | |
| By microscopy | 4 (1.7) | 5 (3.2) | 13 (5.6) | 22 (3.5) | 0.067 |
| P. falciparum | 2 | 3 | 4 | 9 | |
| P. malariae | 0 | 1 | 6 | 7 | |
| P. ovale | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | |
| Mixed Pf/Pm | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | |
*Values are no. (%) children surveyed except as indicated. Pan+, positive for non–P. falciparum infection only; Pf+, positive for P. falciparum monoinfection only; Pf/Pan+, positive for P. falciparum monoinfection or P. falciparum mixed infection; RDT, rapid diagnostic test; mixed Pf/Pm, positive for P. falciparum monoinfection or P. malariae mixed infection.
†Totals in columns may not add up to total because of missing data.
‡Determined by Fisher exact test or χ2 test, as appropriate.
§Defined as number of persons who sleep in the same room.
1Preliminary results from this study were presented at the 64th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, October 25–29, 2015, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.
2These first authors contributed equally to this article.
3These senior authors contributed equally to this article.