An Investigation of Malaria Outbreak in Chompoo Sub-district, Noen Maprang District, Phitsanulok Province

Abstract

On 18 May 2022, the Phitsanulok Provincial Public Health Office received a notification from Surveillance and Rapid Response Team (SRRT), Buddhachinaraj Hospital that a 10-year-old woman’s Plasmodium vivax malaria patient case was admitted. This disease case was investigated by the Office of Disease Prevention and Control, Region 2, Phitsanulok. This descriptive epidemiological study was conducted to confirm the cause of this disease case and epidemic control. This results presented that a 10-year-old woman’s P.vivax malaria patient lived in Moo 9, Chompoo Sub-District, Noen Maprang District, Phitsanulok Province. She had a fever, cold, and body aches on May 13, 2022. She was admitted to the Sub-district Health Promoting Hospital and referred to Noen Maprang Hospital on May 17, 2022. Doctor initially suspected that the patient had dengue hemorrhagic fever. Afterwards, the patient was referred to Buddhachinaraj hospital to confirm malaria using blood film technique together with multiplex real-time PCR and eventually put her as confirmed case with P. vivax. Two suspected malaria cases were also tried to be examined but no malaria was detected. However, malaria vectors were found from the Anopheles larval survey. The patient had traveled and lived in the flat area at the foothill that is traversed by canal, rubber, and durian plantations. This malaria case was likely to have spread to the area where there were rubbers plantations migrant workers entering and exiting, along with risky behavior of patients like sleeping without a mosquito net and without using mosquito repellent.