Background: Malaria and leishmaniasis are the two largest parasitic killers in the world. Due togeographical overlap of these diseases, malaria-visceral leishmaniasis co-infections occur in large populations and exist in different areas even if they have been poorly investigated. The aim of this study was to determine malaria-visceral leishmaniasis co-infection and their associated factors among migrant laborers.

Methods: Community based cross-sectional study was conducted from October-December 2016 on migrant laborers who are residents of rural agricultural camp in West Armachiho district and involved in sesame and sorghum harvesting. Standardized questionnaire was used to collect socio-demographic data and risk factors. Capillary blood was collected for giemsa stained blood film examination to detect and identify Plasmodium parasites. Recombinant kinensin (rk39) antigen test was performed to detect anti-leishmania donovani antibody. Data was coded, entered, checked for completeness and analyzed using SPSS version-20 statistical software. Chi-square test was applied to show a significant association between variables. P-value < 0.05 was considered as statistically significant.

Results: A total of 178 migrant laborers were included in this study. Of these, 74.2% belong to the age group 15-29; 61.2% come from lowland areas and 51.6% visit the area more than four times. Seroprevalence of visceral leishmaniasis was 9.6% (17/178); and 22.4% (40/178) of tested migrant laborers were found malaria infected. The overall prevalence of malaria-visceral leishmaniasis co-infection was 2.8%. Of the total migrant laborer, 47.8% used bed nets, of them 1.2% were malaria-visceral leishmaniasis co-infected; 72.5% used outdoor sites as usual sleeping site, among them 3.1% were malaria-visceral leishmaniasis co-infected; 60.1% were migrants, of which 2.8% were malaria-visceral leishmaniasis co-infected. All variables were not significantly associated with malaria-visceral leishmaniasis co-infection (P > 0.05).

Conclusions: Prevalence of malaria-visceral leishmaniasis co-infection was low and it is not significantly associated with residence, number of visits, bed net utilization and outdoor sleeping habit even if both diseases are prevalent in the study area.

Ethics approval and consent to participate

Ethical clearance was obtained from ethical review committee of School of Biomedical and Laboratory Sciences, University of Gondar. Written permission was obtained from North Gondar Zone Health Department as well as from West Armachiho Woreda Health Offices. Oral permission and negotiation was obtained from farm managers. Informed written consent was obtained from study participants and participation in this study was voluntary. The need for parental consent was waived by an ethics committee called "ethical review committee of School of Biomedical and Laboratory Sciences, University of Gondar". This committee approved that study participants under the legal age could provide written informed consent on their own behalf (Ref. No SBMLS/62/5/09) since they are migrant laborers and their parents were not around. All data and information were maintained confidentially by using code rather than participant’s name. Blood testing was carried out free of charge. Positives for malaria case were treated without fee and positives for rk39 antigen test were advised to visit a nearby leishmaniasis diagnosis and treatment centers.

Consent for publication

Not applicable in this section.

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

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Fig. 1

Fig. 1

Proportion of plasmodium species among...

Fig. 1

Proportion of plasmodium species among positive case ( N = 40)