Perfil epidemiológico da Malária entre adultos de comunidades ribeirinhas de Coari-Amazonas

Abstract

Introduction: Malaria is an acute febrile infectious disease, of parasitic etiology, caused by protozoa of the genus Plasmodium, transmitted to humans by the bite of the infected female mosquito of the species Anopheles spp. In Brazil, malaria is classified as a notifiable disease, and the Amazon region is the endemic focus of malaria in the country. Objective: To analyze the epidemiological profile of malaria among adults from riverside communities in the municipality of Coari-Amazonas, from January 2022 to December 2023. Method: This is a cross-sectional study with a quantitative approach, using secondary data extracted from the Health Surveillance databases of the Municipality of Coari, Amazonas, Brazil, from January 2022 to December 2023 in the municipality of Coari-Amazonas. The sociodemographic and clinical variables were extracted from the epidemiological surveillance database of the municipality of Coari, Amazonas, Brazil. The variables on fluviometric data on the level of the Solimões River were taken from the Praticagem dos Rios Ocidentais da Amazônia (PROA) website. Microsoft Excel (version 2306 for Windows) and SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Sciences) 22.0 for Windows were used to analyze the data. The study was approved by the Ethics and Research Committee of the Federal University of Amazonas under protocol number 6.808.480. Results: Between 2022 and 2023, 963 reported positive cases of malaria were identified among adults in rural communities in the municipality of Coari, with 421 (43.7%) cases in the first year and 542 (56.3%) in the following year. The sociodemographic variables followed a pattern in the two years studied, respectively, with a predominance of individuals aged between 18 and 39 (67.0% and 62.7%), male (60.8% and 62.9%), brown (90.5% and 89.3%), incomplete primary education (52.0% and 57.6%) and working in agriculture (69.8% and 78.6%). The months with the highest prevalence rates were August (15.4% and 27.5%) and September (14.3% and 20.1%), respectively in 2022 and 2023, which coincided with the decline in the levels of the Solimões River. Most of the notified cases were vivax malaria (90.0% and 75.5%), symptomatic (89.5% and 90.8%), active detection (50.8%) in 2022 and passive detection (57.2%) in 2023. The community with the highest rate of cases in 2022 and 2023 was Saubinha, with 20.4% and 14.7%, respectively. One of the limitations found in the study was the exclusion of cases due to incomplete notification forms, making it difficult to better identify the epidemiological profile of the disease in the municipality, especially the identification of measures to combat and eradicate the vectors. Conclusion: Malaria was found to be endemic in the riverside communities of Coari, mostly caused by P. vivax, with symptoms in young male adults and farmers with low levels of schooling. Malaria cases increased between August and September, a period that coincided with the ebb of the Solimões River