Abstract

ACUNA-CANTILLO, Luis; OLIVERA, Mario J.  and  PADILLA-RODRIGUEZ, Julio Cesar. Malaria in the eco-epidemiological region of the Colombian Caribbean, 1960-2019. Rev. perú. med. exp. salud publica [online]. 2022, vol.39, n.4, pp.463-468.  Epub Dec 05, 2022. ISSN 1726-4634.  http://dx.doi.org/10.17843/rpmesp.2022.394.11359.

Malaria has a heterogeneous and variable behavior among Colombian regions. In order to establish its epidemiological behavior in the Colombian Caribbean region between 1960 and 2019, we carried out an observational, descriptive and retrospective study based on records from the Ministry of Health and other secondary sources. We defined epidemiological variables and used measures of frequency and central tendency. A total of 155,096 cases were registered. The decades with the highest number of cases were 1990-1999 (20.5%) and 1980-1989 (18.9%). The average number of cases per decade was 25,849.3. The highest parasite rates were recorded in 1970 (3.3 per 1000 population) and 1981 (3.9 per 1000 population). Plasmodium vivax was the most frequent species and most of the burden by age group was found in people under 29 years of age, between 2010-2019. Malaria showed an endemic-epidemic pattern of low and very low transmission intensity, with a decreasing trend.

Keywords : Malaria; Epidemiology; Plasmodium vivax; Plasmodium falciparum; Caribbean; Colombia.

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