Abstract:
The epidemiology of malaria may vary considerably within relatively small geographical
areas; besides, it is currently reported that Onchocerca-infected individuals living in
onchocerciasis endemic areas are also susceptible to malaria because malaria shares
similar epidemiological characteristics with onchocerciasis. Therefore, the present study was
aimed at assessing the current and past magnitude of malaria parasite and Onchocerca
volvulus infections and co-infections among field workers in Teppi Green Coffee
Plantation Estate, Teppi area, south west Ethiopia. A total of 403 participants were recruited
for the study using sequential sampling technique. Of these, 279 (69.2%) were males and 124
(30.8%) were females. A laboratory based cross-sectional study design was carried out from
December 2017 to January 2018. A five year retrospective health record was collected. The
current data were collected by laboratory diagnosis of blood samples and skin snips. The
overall prevalence of malaria and onchocerciasis were 22.6% (91/403) and 3.7% (15/403),
respectively. Data from retrospective studies showed that bot disease cases were at a
declining trend. The highest proportion of annual malaria cases (42.7%) was recorded in
2013 and the lowest (14.2%) recorded in 2016. As a whole, the predominant Plasmodium
species detected was P. vivax (65.8%) followed by P. falciparum (33.1%) and mixed malarial
parasites of both species (1.1%). The study indicated that there was no co-infection of Malaria
parasite and Onchocerca volvulus infection. The prevalence of onchocercal skin dermatitis (onchocerciasis) showed a gradual decreasing trend in the past five years. The highest (9.5%)
prevalence of onchocerciasis cases was detected in the year 2012 and the lowest (1.9%) in
2016. Although a high level of reduction of malaria and Onchocerciasis were noticed in the
study, the number of confirmed cases was considerable. Therefore, control interventions and
awareness creation should be maintained and scaled-up to reduce and eventually eliminate
the diseases from the area
