Prevalence of malarial parasite species in Multan district

A cross sectional study was carried out in Multan District to find out the prevalence of various plasmodium species causing malaria. Out of 500 cases of fever, 86[17.2%] were positive for malarial parasite in blood smear slides. Out of positive cases 52 [60.5%] were identified as plasmodium vivax infection; 32[37.2%] cases with plasmodium falciparum and 2[2.3%] cases of mixed infection due to plasmodium vivax and plasmodium falciparum. There was no case of plasmodium malariae or plasmodium ovale infection observed in the present study. These results are compared with those of other studies done in Pakistan and elsewhere. The growing problems of the drug resistance and severe infection due to plasmodium falciparum are highlighted