Malaria in hyperendemic region of Uganda has seasonal variations and is associated with low mortality.

Objective: Majority of malaria cases in hyper-endemic areas have seasonal variations. The aim of this short research note is to refer and assess seasonal variability and mortality of malaria in Ngogwe in southeast Uganda in 2011/2012 season.

Methods: We analyzed clinical records of patients admitted to Buikwe-Ngogwe Hospital in the period from July 1, 2011 to August 25, 2012 to assess seasonality of malaria.

Results: Altogether, 23,675 patients were admitted to Buikwe-Ngogwe Hospital due to fever illness and 14,940 malaria-positive samples were obtained (63.1%) from these patients. We have observed significantly higher number of malaria cases in December compared to period of June - November (p<0.01). Mortality rate was only 0.48%.

Conclusion: Interestingly, we have observed seasonal variability in malaria occurrence in Ngogwe, Southeast Uganda, which is, not correlating with rainy season but with movement of population to the areas closer to Lake Victoria. However, despite of high prevalence, mortality of this disease remained low. The reasons for low mortality are probably a good access to health care facility and adaptation of artemisinin-based combinational therapy for documented malaria.