EVALUATION OF HAEMATOLOGICAL PROFILES OF WOMEN AND CHILDREN INFECTED WITH MALARIAL PARASITES IN BOSSO AND PAIKORO LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREAS OF NIGER STATE

Abstract

ABSTRACT Malaria continues to be a major public health challenge especially in the African region despite the availability of anti malarial drugs and the application of several preventive strategies such as the use of insecticide treated nets, indoor residual spraying, and intermittent preventive treatment in pregnancy. This study was aimed at investigating the prevalence of malaria parasite and its effect on the haematological indices among women and children attending selected government health facilities in Bosso and Paikoro Local Government Areas of Niger State, Nigeria. Blood samples were collected from 500 Patients attending selected Primary Health Care facilities in both local government areas. Examination for Plasmodium was carried out using rapid diagnostic test cassette for the qualitative detection of Histidine Rich Protein II (HRP-II) antigen of Plasmodium fulciparum in human whole blood. The haematological analysis was carried out using automated standard methods. An overall prevalence of 49 % was obtained for the study area. Bossso LGA had a prevalence of 48 % while Paikoro LGA had 50 % prevalence. Of the total population, children recorded malaria prevalence of 70.7 %, pregnant women had 44.6 % while the non pregnant women recorded 33.9 % prevalence. Age, gender, educational background, occupation, haemoglobin content and blood group were all statistically significant at p < 0.05 indicating that these parameters could be regarded as risk factors that predispose to malarial infection. The haematological analysis revealed that there was association between anaemia and malaria as the severities were measured at p < 0.05. These severities ranged from mild, moderate and to severe anaemia. Genotype AA recorded more cases of malarial parasite infection than the other genotypes. A prevalence of 50.2 % was seen among the genotype AA population. The least prevalence of 16.6 % was recorded among subjects with genotype SS. Among the children, age group 10-12 years recorded the highest prevalence (75.0 %) of malaria and was followed by age group 0-4 with prevalence of 70.8 %. Age group 41-50 recorded the lowest malaria prevalence of 35.7 %. Age is seen from this study as a risk factor influencing malarial infection as P was at 0.05. To sustain the considerable progress made in the global fight to control and eliminate malaria, more efforts should be channeled into effective enforcement of the various control strategies such as the use of Insecticide Treated Nets (ITN), Intermittent Preventive Treatment in Pregnancy (IPTP), Larva Source Management (LSM) and Indoor Residual Spraying (IRS).