author(s)
Abdul Majeed Khan, Adil Hassan, Irfan Ullah, Ahmad Ud Din and Azam Hayat

abstract
The aim of this study was to report the incidence of malaria in patients visiting three major hospitals in Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. A total of 375 suspected malaria blood samples were randomly collected from patients in three-main government teaching hospital, Hayatabad Medical Complex, Khyber Teaching Hospital, and Lady Reading Hospital Peshawar, KPK, Pakistan from November 2014 to July 2015. Both thick and thin blood film was prepared on a slide for microscopic detection of Plasmodium parasites. Out of the total samples, 66 were reported positive for Plasmodium. The results showed 17.6 % positive cases and were more frequent in male, (23.5%) as compared to females (10.5%). The highest percentage was recorded in the age group of >14 male, (27.5%) whereas the lowest frequency was documented in the age group of <5 females (5%). The highest frequency (21.7%) was recorded in the rural population as compared to (11.3%) in urban population. The high percentage of P. vivax (15.5%) was recorded, followed by P. falciparum (1.3%), while the lowest frequency (0.8%) of malaria infection was recorded in Mix infection (P. vivax and P. falciparum).