BUSM Researchers Identify Malaria Infection Control Methods for Hospitals in India
Researchers at Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) have identified deficiencies in the use of methods to prevent malaria in pregnant women in antenatal clinics and hospital delivery units in the state of Jharkhand, India. The BUSM study appears online in the Malaria Journal.
Of the 2,386 pregnant women studied at the antenatal clinics over a 12-month period, the BUSM researchers found 1.8 percent had a positive diagnostic test for malaria. Of the 718 pregnant women studied at the delivery units, 1.7 percent tested positive for peripheral parasitaemia (asexual parasitic forms) and 2.4 percent tested positive for placental parasitaemia (malaria parasites on placenta) during the same period.
According to lead author, Davidson Hamer, MD, an associate professor of international health and medicine at Boston University Schools of Medicine and Public Health, and director of Boston Medical Center’s Travel Clinic, malaria control measures, including indoor residual spraying of the homes of the study participants was common, whereas insecticide-treaded bed nets and malaria chemoprophylaxis were rarely used.
“Given the large-at-risk population in this region and to improve case management of symptomatic pregnant women, there should be a wider availability of insecticide-treated bed nets,” said Hamer. “Improved control methods could reduce the risk of infection in this malaria-endemic region.”