[Assessing the reliability of clinical malaria diagnosis in children consulting in three peripheral health care facilities, in Niakhar rural area, Senegal].

A demographic survey site has been implemented in Niakhar rural zone in Senegal since the 1960s and many epidemiological and demographic studies have been conducted in this context. In this Sahelo-Sudanese area, malaria transmission is mesoendemic and mainly seasonal. In health care facilities, malaria real burden is poorly known as malaria diagnosis only relies on patients' clinical signs. The aim of our study was to measure the reliability of malaria diagnosis in these health centres by performing a parasitological confirmation of presumptive malaria cases and by assessing the validity of diagnosis according to child's age. A cross-sectional study was conducted in August-December 2006 (rainy season) and in February-June 2007 (dry season) in three health care facilities of the area (2 public centres and one private dispensary). Children aged 1 to 14 years old and accompanied by an adult were included. Two thick blood smears were carried out for each patient. A total of 474 children were included; among them 208 (43.9%) had a positive blood smear. Among the 335 (70.7%) presumptive malaria cases, 182 (54.3%) were confirmed by thick smear. Sensitivity specificity positive and negative predictive values were respectively 87.5%, 42.6%, 55.3% and 80.7%. Clinical signs which were predictive of confirmed malaria were vomiting and body temperature > or =38 degrees C. Clinical diagnosis performances decreased significantly during the dry season and in children under the age of two. The proportion of true malaria cases (54.3%) confirms the results of previous studies described in literature and shows a consistency for the last twenty years. Malaria is the main diagnosis attributed to patients by health care agents, regardless of the child's age or the season, whereas thick smear results are predominantly negative among children aged less than 2 and during dry season. A better knowledge of malaria morbidity in these health care facilities is an asset for setting up further epidemiological studies in this area and implementing interventions aiming at improving patients' care.