Malaria Parasitaemia among patients attending General Hospital Minna, North Central Nigeria

Abstract

ABSTRACT: Malaria is one of the most widespread parasitic infections globally and is a major cause of mortality, particularly in regions of high malaria endemicity. This study was carried out to investigate the prevalence of malaria infection and parasitaemia among patients attending General Hospital, Minna, North Central Nigeria. A total of one thousand and seventy-one (1,071) individuals within the study area were enrolled for the study from the month of June, 2016 to May, 2017. Malaria parasitaemia was carried out using thick and thin blood films. Parasites counts were reported per 800 white blood cells. The ages of the individuals recruited for the study ranged from 0 to 51years of age. Out of the 1,071 (100%) blood samples collected, 741 (69.19%) were positive for malaria parasitaemia of which 74 (9.99%), 134 (18.08%), 176 (23.75%) and 357 (48.18%) individuals scored malaria parasite densities of +++, ++, + and scanty had parasites in their blood stream respectively. Statistically, there was a significant difference (P<0.05) between malaria parasitaemia and age. On the other hand, of the 1071 (100%) blood samples collected and screened, there were 607 (56.68%) males and 464 (43.32%) females recruited for the study of which 404 (54.52%) of the total males sampled were infected while 337 (45.48%) of the total females sampled were infected. There was no significant difference (P>0.05) between the degree of malaria parasitaemia in relation to gender (sex). The high prevalence of malaria parasitaemia among patients attending General Hospital, Minna, North Central Nigeria highlights the need for more efforts to be targeted at controlling malaria among individuals as this will ultimately lead to a reduction in the incidence of malaria in Minna and Nigeria at large.