Malaria in Saudi Arabia

This study was conducted for a period of 18 months ( March 2006 - August 2007) to cover 54 villages served by three health care centers (Wadi Alhayah, Alfarsha and Albugaa) Situation analysis was done for the last 10 years (1996 - 2005) and parasitological surveys were carried out, including, passive case detection (PCD) and rapid diagnostic test (RDT), so as to determine the disease prevalence and distribution. Simultaneously, an entomological survey was conducted to study the malaria vector population dynamics and disease relation. The retrospective study showed a relative decline in the annual reported slide positivity rate (SPR) of malaria cases from 1996 onwards. Two species of malaria parasites were reported, the first of which P. falciparum constituted the major cause of this disease in the study area, whereas, P. vivax the second one was confirmed in only 4 imported cases by non Saudi persons during the last ten years. The parasitological study (PCD and RDT) has documented low level of malaria infection (2.7% and 0.44%, respectively).