Biomedical subjects

P Govardhini

Publications and source records attributed to P Govardhini.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed1992

Some observations on Plasmodium falciparum gametocytaemia in natural infections in an endemic area of Koraput district, Orissa.

Peripheral P. falciparum gametocytaemia with respect to its minimum average time taken for appearance in peripheral blood, its peak density, duration of persistence in peripheral circulation, conversion rate and sex ratio was studied in 22 persons with natural infections in a village of Koraput district, Orissa. The minimum average time taken for the appearance of gametocytes was 9.3 days in children (below 15 years) and 8.9 days in adults (15 years and above). The peak count was low, the maximum density being 31/microliters. The duration of gametocytaemia in peripheral circulation was also short, the longest being 32 days. The gametocyte conversion rate on an average was 0.74% in children and 2.04% in adults. The mean sex ratio of micro:macro gametocytes was 1:2.6 in children and 1:6.2 in adults.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1991

Microlevel epidemiological variations in malaria & its implications on control strategy.

Microlevel epidemiological variations in designing malaria control strategies were studied. Quantitative and qualitative variations were observed between two physiographic zones and between four different ecotypes within the zones of the Koraput district. While the peak transmission occurred in rainy season in the 600 m plateau (Jeypore zone), the same was observed in cold season in 150 m plateau (Malkangiri zone). The age specific parasite prevalence indicated a high degree of transmission and high level of acquired immunity in top- and foot-hill villages of both zones as compared to plain and riverine villages. Transmission was perennial in top-hill and foot-hill villages while it was of short period (indicated by infant parasite rate) in others. Since the period and intensity of transmission vary, an uniform residual insecticidal spray schedule as followed at present is not necessary. Majority of fever patients in top-hill villages were positive for Plasmodium falciparum and therefore may be treated for malaria without slide collection and examination. Evaluations may be done by sample surveys. These steps can optimize the malaria control operation in the district.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1991

Living conditions and occurrence of malaria in a rural community.

Results of a prospective study of the association between environmental factors and malaria occurrence among 1461 individuals in an Indian rural community are reported. A multiplicative model was fitted by relating malaria positivity with different environmental risk factors as categorical variables. The risk of acquiring malaria infections varied significantly within a village stratified by proximity of breeding sources to human dwellings (chi 2 = 19.87, df = 5, p = 0.0000) and different types of houses (chi 2 = 11.32, df = 2, p = 0.0035). People residing in thatched houses with [Relative Risk (RR) = 6.72] and without false ceiling (RR = 11.27) are exposed to greater risk of contracting malaria infections when compared to tiled houses (RR = 1.00). However, malaria infection was not significantly associated with proximity of cattlesheds to human dwellings (chi 2 = 1.54, df = 2, p = 0.46). A significantly high risk was observed in zones where the cattle to man ratio was very low and vice versa (chi 2 = 15.32, df = 6, p = 0.018). These data suggest and corroborate with earlier studies that transmission is a local problem and it varies within a village according to the microepidemiological factors.

Adult↗

PubMed1991

Symptomatic diagnosis of Plasmodium falciparum malaria in field conditions.

This paper examines the relationship between clinical manifestations and parasitaemia in relation to malaria endemicity. Discriminant analysis, showed that fever alone can detect 74.4% of the parasite positive cases and the inclusion of other symptoms like headache, vomiting, nausea, bodyache and diarrhoea marginally increases the efficiency of discrimination (i.e., from 74.4% to 74.7%). It was observed that the association of symptoms with parasitaemia varies with the degree of malaria endemicity. The percentage of correct classification of parasite carriers varied from 45.7% in the immune population to 80.6% in the non-immune population. A significant difference was observed in the density grades between symptom positive and symptom negative cases. Slide examination in hyperendemic area does not give any advantage over the clinical examination and the data obtained from the slides collected during fever surveys tend to overestimate the malaria incidence in hyperendemic area.

Animals↗