Malaria fever during the dry season in children aged 6 months to 14 years in Dangassa, Mali

Abstract

Introduction:The magnitude and time course of the relationship between fever and malaria remains uncertain, although the likelihood of malaria-related fever appears to increase with the number of parasites. In Mali, the region with high malaria prevalence is the Koulikoro region with 50%. The purpose of our work was to explore the share of fever attributable to malaria during the dry season among children aged 6 months to 14 years from 2013 to 2016 in Dangassa. Materials and methods:This was a secondary analysis of data from a cohort study which took place from May to September 2021. All participants aged 6 months to 14 years were included; present on the Dangassa site during the study period and from whom free and voluntary consent was obtained from parents or guardians or assent for children aged 12 to 14 years. We used the Cox model. Results: In total, 821 participants were included in children aged 6 months to 14 years during the dry season in Dangassa from 2013 to 2016. It was recorded that the median body temperature in the months of December, January, February was highest during the dry season compared to March, April, May. Conclusion:This study proves that it is important that effective strategies be put in place to cope, but not long-term, with environmental sanitation and awareness raising during the dry season.