Prevalence of Congenital Malaria in Minna, North Central Nigeria

• Published in: Journal of Tropical Medicine
• Main Authors: Innocent Chukwuemeka James Omalu, Charles Mgbemena, Amaka Mgbemena, Victoria Ayanwale, Israel Kayode Olayemi, Adeniran Lateef, Victoria I. Chukwuemeka
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Hindawi Limited 2012
• Subjects: Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine; RC955-962; Arctic
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1155/2012/274142; https://doaj.org/article/c9534c46b815419fa3e41c8a94be152c

The study was designed to determine the true prevalence of congenital, cord, and placental malaria in General Hospital Minna, North Central Nigeria. Peripheral blood smears of near-term pregnant women, as well as the placental, cord, and peripheral blood smears of their newborn babies, were examined for malaria parasites, using the Giemsa staining technique. Out of 152 pregnant women screened, 21 (13.82%) of them were infected with malaria parasites. Of the 152 new born babies, 4 (2.63%) showed positive peripheral parasitaemia. Placental parasitaemia was 7/152 (4.61%), while cord blood parasitaemia was 9/152 (5.92%). There were strong associations between peripheral and cord malaria parasitaemia and congenital malaria (P<0.05). Plasmodium falciparum occurred in all, and none had mixed infection. The average birth weights of the babies delivered of nonmalarious pregnant women were higher than those delivered by malarious pregnant women, though not significant (P>0.05). Malaria parasitaemia occurred more frequently in primigravidae than multigravidae.