Prevalence of Malaria Parasite among Pregnant Women Attending to Saudi Kassala Teaching Hospital in Kassala State, Eastern Sudan

• Published in: Journal of Tropical Medicine
• Main Authors: Alnaeem Abdalla Idris Nour, Tafawl Ibrahim Karrar, Mohamed Hassan Ahmed Kebayer, Nada Ali Abd Elwahid Mohamed, Khadega Suleiman Mohammed Zarroug, Hajrhma Ismael Hajrhma Mohammedahmed, Mohamed Ahmed Salah Mohamed Ahmed
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Hindawi Limited 2023
• Subjects: Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine; RC955-962; Arctic
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1155/2023/2289552; https://doaj.org/article/0a171820fb314e5d9c2d8966e2723d10

Objective. Malaria during pregnancy is a priority area for malaria research and control as pregnant women represent a high risk group for severe malaria, and the presentation of malaria during pregnancy varies according to the level of transmission in the area; so the aim of this study is to determine the prevalence rates of malaria parasite among pregnant women attending to Saudi Kassala Teaching hospital in Kassala state, 2022. Methods. A cross-sectional study was carried out in Saudi Kassala Teaching hospital in Kassala State. This study involved one hundred and eighty-five blood samples collected from pregnant women who was then examined by using blood films and ICT for malaria, and the data were collected by a structured questionnaire and analyzed using SPSS version 21. Results. The prevalence of malaria among pregnant women was 2.2% (95% CI: 0.006–0.054). There was no significant difference among the different age groups with respect to the prevalence of malaria (P value = 0.483). The prevalence of malaria in rural residency was 2.2%, and this was significantly more common than the urban residency (P value = 0.021). When compared across the gestational trimesters, there was no significant difference between them (P value = 0.518). The number of gravidity is not related to malaria infection (P value = 0.737). The presence of symptom compliant of malaria during pregnancy does not suggest the presence of malaria (P value = 0.152). No difference was found between the different educational levels with respect to the prevalence of malaria (P value = 0.362). The result showed that there was 1 (0.5%) negative result in ICT which was positive in blood film for malaria (BFFM) and there were 3 (1.6%) positive malaria parasites by both methods in all 185 samples with statistically insignificant differences (P = 0.703). Conclusion. Plasmodium falciparum was only species detected in this study. Malaria among pregnant women was more prevalent in rural areas. However, other factors such as age, gestational age, gravidity, ...