A Ten-Year Epidemiological Study of Malaria in Hormozgan Province: A Retrospective Study

Nejadkahnoji, Samira; Maraghi, Elham; Jahanifard, Elham

doi:10.22118/jsmj.2025.531596.3935

A Ten-Year Epidemiological Study of Malaria in Hormozgan Province: A Retrospective Study

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

Samira Nejadkahnoji ¹

Elham Maraghi ²

Elham Jahanifard ¹

¹ Infectious and Tropical Diseases Research Center, Health Research Institute, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran.

² Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, School of Public Health, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran.

10.22118/jsmj.2025.531596.3935

Abstract

Background and Objectives Malaria is a parasitic disease caused by five species of Plasmodium and transmitted by Anopheles mosquitoes. Hormozgan Province is one of the endemic foci of malaria in the south of Iran. Therefore, the present study was designed to determine the epidemiology of malaria over a ten-year period in Hormozgan Province.
Subjects and Methods To determine the ten-year epidemiology of malaria in Hormozgan province, data from 2012 to 2021 were collected from health centers. Information extracted from patient records included gender, age, season of illness, nationality, place of residence, year, and the diagnosed parasites. The data were analyzed using the chi-square test.
Results A total of 682 malaria cases were reported. In this study, 87.8% of the patients were male and 12.2% were female. The highest numbers of cases were recorded in September, July, and August, respectively, with 45.7% of cases occurring during the summer. Most cases were observed in individuals older than 15 years. The prevalence of malaria in Jask, Bandar Abbas, and Qeshm was 23.9%, 22.3%, and 13.3%, respectively. Plasmodium vivax was the most prevalent species. In addition, 49.3% of the patients were of Pakistani nationality.
Conclusion The high prevalence of patients of Pakistani and Afghan nationality highlights the need for effective decision-making and the adoption of appropriate strategies for the prevention and control of the disease and its vectors. Furthermore, the findings of this study emphasize the importance of strengthening malaria elimination programs, enhancing local surveillance and monitoring systems, educating at-risk populations, and promoting intersectoral collaboration.

Keywords

Malaria

Epidemiology

Plasmodium

Hormozgan

Anopheles

1.World Health Organization. Malaria. 2023. Available from: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/ detail/malaria.

2.Howes RE, Battle KE, Mendis KN, Smith DL, Cibulskis RE, Baird JK, Hay SI. Global epidemiology of Plasmodium vivax. The American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene. 2016 Dec 28;95(6 Suppl):15. [10.4269/ajtmh.16-0141][PMID].

3.Benelli G, Beier JC. Current vector control challenges in the fight against malaria. Acta Trop. 2017 Oct:174:91-96.[ 10.1016/j.actatropica.2017.06.028 ] [PMID]

4.Fornace KM, Diaz AV, Lines J, Drakeley CJ. Achieving global malaria eradication in changing landscapes. Malaria journal. 2021 Feb 2;20(1):69. [10.1186/s12936-021-03599-0][PMID]

5.World Health Organization. A Repot About malaria. 2021. Available from: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/malaria.

6.World Health Organization. World malaria report 2023. 2023. Available from: https: // www. who. int/ teams/global-malaria-programme/reports/world-malaria-report-2023.

7.Hanafi-Bojd A, Vatandoost H, Philip E, Stepanova E, Abdi A, Safari R, et al. Malaria situation analysis and stratification in Bandar Abbas County, southern Iran, 2004–2008. Iran J Arthropod Borne Dis. 2010 Jun 30;4(1):31.[PMID]

8.Schapira A, Zaim M, Raeisi A, Ranjbar M, Kolifarhood G, Nikpour F, Amlashi M, Faraji L. History of the successful struggle against malaria in the Islamic Republic of Iran. Tehran: Neekpey. 2018:27-8.

9. World Health Organization. World malaria report: 20 years of global progress and challenges. 2020. Available from: https://www.who.int/docs/default-source/malaria/ world-malaria-reports/9789240015791-eng.pdf.

10.Yaghoobi-Ershadi MR, Doosti S, Schaffner F, Moosa-Kazemi SH, Akbarzadeh K, Yaghoobi-Ershadi N. Morphological studies on adult mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae) and first report of the potential Zika virus vector Aedes (Stegomyia) unilineatus (Theobald, 1906) in Iran. Bulletin de la Société de Pathologie exotique. 2017 May;110(2):116-21. [10.1007/s13149-016-0530-1 ][PMID]

11.Okati-Aliabad H, Ansari-Moghaddam A, Mohammadi M, Nejati J, Ranjbar M, Raeisi A, Kolifarhood G, Shahraki-Sanavi F, Khorram A. Access, utilization, and barriers to using malaria protection tools in migrants to Iran. BMC Public Health. 2022 Aug 25;22(1):1615. [10.1186/s12889-022-13913-3 ][PMID]

12.Khammarnia M, Setoodehzadeh F. Malaria Outbreak in the Southeast of Iran in 2022.

13.Nateghpour M, Edrissian G, Haghi AM, Farivar L, Kazemi-Rad E. Diagnosing Malaria Cases Referred to the Malaria Reference Laboratory in Tehran University of Medical Science, Iran. Iranian Journal of Parasitology. 2015 Oct;10(4):547 .[PMID].

14.Mishra AK, Chand SK, Barik TK, Dua VK, Raghavendra K. Insecticide resistance status in Anopheles culicifacies in Madhya Pradesh, central India. Journal of Vector Borne Diseases. 2012 Jan 1;49(1):39-41.[PMID]

15.Bhatt S, Weiss DJ, Cameron E, Bisanzio D, Mappin B, Dalrymple U, Battle KE, Moyes CL, Henry A, Eckhoff PA, Wenger EA. The effect of malaria control on Plasmodium falciparum in Africa between 2000 and 2015. Nature. 2015 Oct 8;526(7572):207-11.[ 10.1038/nature15535 ][PMID]

16.Kona MP, Kamaraju R, Donnelly MJ, Bhatt RM, Nanda N, Chourasia MK, et al. Characterization and monitoring of deltamethrin-resistance in Anopheles culicifacies in the presence of a long-lasting insecticide-treated net intervention. Malar J. 2018;17:1-12. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12936-018-2557-1.

17.Zare M, Farshidi H, Soleimani-Ahmadi M, Jaberhashemi SA, Sanei-Dehkordi A. Significant decline of malaria incidence in a low socioeconomic area in the southeast of Iran: 10 years field assessment during malaria elimination programme. Journal of Parasitic Diseases. 2021 Dec;45(4):986-94.[ 10.1007/s12639-021-01391-0 ][PMID]

18.Dehghan A, Hashemi B, Aliakbarpoor M, Moosazadeh M, Safari K, Hashemi-Chalicheh M. Epidemiology study of malaria in Larestan during 2001-2011. Hormozgan Medical Journal. 2021 Feb 1;19(5):342-7.

19.Hosseinpoor M, Fekrijaski S, Zare S, Soleimani-Ahmadi M. Analysis of Malaria Situation in Jask County During the Implementation of the Elimination Programme in 2010-2020. Hormozgan Medical Journal. 2023 Mar 3;27(2):68-72.

20.Sargolzaie N, Salehi M, Kiani M, Sakeni M, Hassanzehi A. Malaria Epidemiology in Sistan and Balouchestan Province during April 2008-March 2011, Iran. Zahedan J Res Med Sci. 2014;16(4):41-43.

21.Vatandoost H, Raeisi A, Saghafipour A, Nikpour F, Nejati J. Malaria situation in Iran: 2002–2017. Malar J. 20;

22.Purrastgu-Haghi F, Dehghani S, Dosti S, Iranmanesh V, Qasemi A. The trend of malaria in Hajiabad County, Hormozgan Province, 2001–2014. Journal of Preventive Medicine. 2015 Dec 10;2(4):71-7.

23.Hatam GR, Nejati F, Mohammadzadeh T, Shahriari Rad R, Sarkari B. Population‐Based Seroprevalence of Malaria in Hormozgan Province, Southeastern Iran: A Low Transmission Area. Malaria Research and Treatment. 2015;2015(1):174570. [10.1155/2015/174570 ][PMID]

24.Rashid G, Zareei F, Mohseni S, Madani A, Soleimani AM, Alebrahim Z, Sanei DA. Malaria Endemicity Effect on Incidence and Mortality Rate of COVID-19 in Some Malaria-Endemic Regions of Iran, An Ecological Study (2020-21).

25.Shamseddin J, Ghanbarnejad A, Zakeri A, Abedi F, Khojasteh S, Turki H. Molecular method is essential to identify asymptomatic malaria reservoirs: A successful experience in the malaria elimination program in Iran. Diagnostics. 2022 Dec 2;12(12):3025. [10.3390/diagnostics12123025 ][PMID]

26.Salahi-Moghaddam A, Turki H, Yeryan M, Fuentes MV. Spatio-temporal prediction of the malaria transmission risk in Minab District (Hormozgan Province, Southern Iran). Acta Parasitologica. 2022 Dec;67(4):1500-13. [10.1007/s11686-022-00598-2 ][PMID]

27.Kahkha-Zhaleh MR, Salahi D, Dabirzadeh S, Dabirzadeh M. Malaria Epidemiology in Rask City and Surrounding Areas (2020-2023), Southeast Iran. Jundishapur Journal of Microbiology. 2024 Sep 1;17(17):e150059.

28.Battle KE, Gething PW, Elyazar IR, Moyes CL, Sinka ME, Howes RE, Guerra CA, Price RN, Baird JK, Hay SI. The global public health significance of Plasmodium vivax. Advances in parasitology. 2012 Jan 1;80:1-11. [10.1016/B978-0-12-397900-1.00001-3 ][PMID]

29.Ebrahimizadeh F, Shokoohi G, Sahranavard F, Abolghazi A. The considerable cases of imported malaria in Larestan in the south of Iran during 2008-2018.