摘要：A comparative cross-sectional survey was undertaken in two populations, urban and rural, in southern Ghana to assess the impact of urbanization on the prevalence of malaria parasitaemia and antibodies. At the same time, a survey of antimalarial practices was conducted on sample populations in the two communities. The results showed a low parasite rate (1.6%) and correspondingly low titres of malaria antibodies in a significant proportion of the urban community, particularly in children less than 10 years old. This was associated with widespread use in the urban community of antimalarial drugs, particularly chloroquine, as prophylaxis. The parasite rate in the rural community was 22%, and 97% of the sample population over 1 year of age had antibodies against Plasmodium falciparum. These results demonstrate that a substantial proportion of urban children are growing up with little exposure to malaria, even in a region considered endemic for malaria. The implications of these findings are discussed. Full text Full text is available as a scanned copy of the original print version. Get a printable copy (PDF file) of the complete article (902K), or click on a page image below to browse page by page. Links to PubMed are also available for Selected References . 607 608 609 610 611 612 613
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