Chimere Agomo

Prevalence of malaria in pregnant women in Lagos, South-West Nigeria.

Prevalence rates reported for malaria in pregnancy in Nigeria vary considerably. The accuracy of results of malaria diagnosis is dependent on training, experience, and motivation of the microscopist as well as the laboratory facility available. Results of training programmes on malaria microscopy have shown low levels of sensitivity and specificity of those involved in malaria diagnosis routinely and for research. This study was done to ascertain the true prevalence of malaria in pregnancy in Lagos, South-West Nigeria. A total of 1,084 pregnant women were recruited into this study. Blood smears stained with Giemsa were used for malaria diagnosis by light microscopy. Malaria infection during pregnancy presents mostly as asymptomatic infection. The prevalence of malaria in this population was 7.7% (95% confidence interval; 6.2-9.4%). Factors identified to increase the risk of malaria infection include young maternal age (< 20 years), and gravidity (primigravida). In conclusion, this study exposes the over-diagnosis of malaria in pregnancy and the need for training and retraining of laboratory staffs as well as establishing the malaria diagnosis quality assurance programme to ensure the accuracy of malaria microscopy results at all levels.

Factors associated with risk of malaria infection among pregnant women in Lagos, Nigeria

BackgroundPregnant women living in an area of stable malaria transmission such as Lagos, Nigeria, have been identified as being at an increased risk of the effects of malaria infection. In this area, most of the infections are asymptomatic which means they are overlooked and untreated much to the detriment of the mother and her foetus. The reality of scaled-up malaria interventions with long-lasting insecticide treated nets, vector control, artemisinin combination therapy (ACT) and intermittent preventive treatment of malaria pregnancy (IPTp) using sulphadoxine pyrimethamine (SP) is that it is also essential to determine the risk factors at play in these kinds of circumstances. This study was aimed at identifying the factors associated with risk of malaria infection in pregnant women in Lagos, Southwest Nigeria.MethodsDemographic information and malaria prevention practices of the pregnant women studied were captured using structured questionnaire. Microscopy was used to establish malaria infection, species identification and parasite density. Relative risk and multivariate logistic regression analysis were used to compare factors associated with malaria in pregnant women.ResultsMalaria microscopy details, demographic information and malaria prevention practices of the pregnant women were obtained using a structured questionnaire. The prevalence of malaria using peripheral blood from 1,084 pregnant women that participated in the study was 7.7%. Plasmodium falciparum (P. falciparum) was seen in 95.2% of the cases as either mixed infection with P. malariae (3.6%) or as a mono infection (91.6%). Malaria preventive practices associated with a significant reduction (P<0.05) in the malaria infection was the use of insecticide sprays (RR = 0.36, 95 C.I. 0.24-0.54), and the combined use of insecticide spray and insecticide-treated nets (ITN) (RR= 6.53, 95% C.I. 0.92-46.33). Sleeping under ITN alone (RR = 1.07, 95% C.I. 0.55-2.09) was not associated with significant reduction in malaria infection among the study participants with malaria parasitaemia. Young maternal age (<20years) (RR = 2.86, 95% C.I. 1.48 – 5.50), but not primigravidity (RR = 1.36, 95% C.I. 0.90-2.05), was associated with an increased risk of malaria infection during pregnancy. After a multivariate logistic regression, young maternal age (OR = 2.61, 95% C.I. 1.13 – 6.03) and the use of insecticide spray (OR = 0.38, 95% C.I. 0.24-0.63) were associated with an increase and a reduction in malaria infection, respectively.ConclusionMalaria prevalence was low among the pregnant women studied. Young maternal age and non-usage of insecticidal spray were the main factors associated with an increased risk of malaria infection among pregnant women in Lagos, Nigeria.

Efficacy of Artemisinin-Based Combination Treatments of Uncomplicated Falciparum Malaria in Under-Five-Year-Old Nigerian Children

The efficacy of 3-day regimens of artemether-lumefantrine and artesunate-amodiaquine were evaluated in 747 children < 5 years of age with uncomplicated malaria from six geographical areas of Nigeria. Fever clearance was significantly faster (P = 0.006) and the proportion of children with parasitemia 1 day after treatment began was significantly lower (P = 0.016) in artesunate-amodiaquine—compared with artemether-lumefantrine-treated children. Parasite clearance times were similar with both treatments. Overall efficacy was 96.3% (95% confidence interval [CI] 94.5–97.6%), and was similar for both regimens. Polymerase chain reaction-corrected parasitologic cure rates on Day 28 were 96.9% (95% CI 93.9–98.2%) and 98.3% (95% CI 96.1–99.3%) for artemether-lumefantrine and artesunate-amodiaquine, respectively. Gametocyte carriage post treatment was significantly lower than pretreatment (P < 0.0001). In anemic children, mean time to recovery from anemia was 10 days (95% CI 9.04–10.9) and was similar for both regimens. Both treatments were well tolerated and are safe and efficacious treatments of uncomplicated falciparum malaria in young Nigerian children.

Malariometric Survey of Ibeshe Community in Ikorodu, Lagos State: Dry Season

Malariometric surveys generate data on malaria epidemiology and dynamics of transmission necessary for planning and monitoring of control activities. This study determined the prevalence of malaria and the knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) towards malaria infection in Ibeshe, a coastal community. The study took place during the dry season in 10 villages of Ibeshe. All the participants were screened for malaria. A semistructured questionnaire was used to capture sociodemographic data and KAP towards malaria. A total of 1489 participants with a mean age of 26.7 ± 20.0 years took part in the study. Malaria prevalence was 14.7% (95% CI 13.0–16.6%) with geometric mean density of 285 parasites/μL. Over 97% of participants were asymptomatic. Only 40 (2.7%) of the participants were febrile, while 227 (18.1%) were anemic. Almost all the participants (95.8%) identified mosquito bite as a cause of malaria, although multiple agents were associated with the cause of malaria. The commonest symptoms associated with malaria were hot body (89.9%) and headache (84.9%). Window nets (77.0%) were preferred to LLIN (29.6%). Malaria is mesoendemic in Ibeshe during the dry season. The participants had good knowledge of symptoms of malaria; however, there were a lot of misconceptions on the cause of malaria.

Assessment of Markers of Antimalarial Drug Resistance in Plasmodium falciparum Isolates from Pregnant Women in Lagos, Nigeria.

Background The use of antimalarial drugs for prevention and treatment is a major strategy in the prevention of malaria in pregnancy. Although sulphadoxine-pyrimethamine (SP) is currently recommended for intermittent preventive treatment of malaria during pregnancy in Nigeria, previously used drugs for prophylaxis such as chloroquine (CQ) and pyrimethamine are accessible as they are purchased over the counter. This study describes the markers of absence or presence of resistance to quinoline (Pfcrt and Pfmdr 1) and type 1 antifolate antimalarial medicines (Pfdhfr). Methods Plasmodium falciparum-positive dried blood spots from pregnant women attending antenatal clinics for the first time during current pregnancy were investigated for the presence of mutations at codons 72–76 of Plasmodium falciparum chloroquine resistance transporter (Pfcrt) gene by real time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) using haplotype-specific probes. PCR followed by sequence analysis was used to identify mutations at codons 86, 184, 1034, 1042 and 1246 of P. falciparum multi-drug resistance-1 (Pfmdr1) gene; and codons 16, 50, 51, 59, 108, 140 and 164 of Pfdhfr gene. Results Two haplotypes of Pfcrt (n = 54) were observed: CVMNK 13(24.2%) and CVIET 41 (75.9%) of the samples. The SVMNT haplotype was absent in this population. The Pfmdr1 (n = 28) haplotypes were NYSND 15(53.6%), YYSND 5(17.9%), NFSND 6(21.4%) and YFSND 2(7.1%). The Pfdhfr (n = 15) were ACNCSVI 4(26.7%), and ACICNSVI 1(6.7%) and ACIRNVI 10 (66.7%). The rate of occurrence of Pfcrt 76T, Pfdhfr108N, Pfmdr186Yand184F were 75.9%, 73.3%, 25% and 28.1% respectively. The Pfmdr1 86Y was associated with low parasitaemia (median = 71 parasites/μl, P = 0.024) while Pfcrt 76T was associated with young maternal age (mean 24.1 ± 4.5 years; P = 0.006). The median parasitaemia were similar (P>0.05) in wild and mutant strains of Pfcrt 76, Pfmdr1 184 and Pfdhfr 108. There was no association between gravidity or gestational age of the women and presence of mutations in the Pfcrt, Pfmdr1 or Pfdhfr genes (P>0.05). Conclusion Markers of resistance to chloroquine and pyrimethamine were high, whereas cycloguanil-resistance marker was not present in the studied population. The low level of mutations in the Pfmdr1gene indicates likely efficacy of amodiaquine against malaria in pregnancy.

Genetic diversity and complexity of Plasmodium falciparum infections in Lagos, Nigeria.

OBJECTIVE To analyse the genetic diversity of Plasmodium falciparum (P. falciparum) using msp-1 and msp-2 as antigenic markers. METHODS Parasite DNA was extracted from 100 blood samples collected from P. falciparum-positive patients confirmed by microscopy, and followed by PCR-genotyping targeting the msp-1 (block2) and msp-2 (block 3) allelic families. RESULTS All the families of msp-1 (K1, MAD20 and R033) and msp-2 (FC27 and 3D7) locus were observed. Results revealed that K1 (60/100) was the most predominant genotype of msp-1 allelic family followed by the genotypes of MAD20 (50/100) and R033 (45/100). In the msp-2 locus, FC27 genotype (62/100) showed higher frequency than 3D7 genotype (55/100). The allelic families were detected either alone or in combination with other families. However, no R033/MAD20 combination was observed. Multiplicity of infection (MOI) with msp-1 was higher in the locality of Ikorodu (1.50) than in Lekki (1.39). However, MOI with msp-2 was lower in the locality of Ikorodu (1.14) than in Lekki (1.76). There was no significant difference in the mean MOI between the two study areas (P=0.427). CONCLUSIONS The observation of limited diversity of malaria parasites may imply that the use of antigenic markers as genotyping tools for distinguishing recrudescence and re-infections with P. falciparum during drug trials is subjective.

Knowledge, perception and acceptability of microbicides among non-health care workers in Lagos, Nigeria

AimThe study is aimed at assessing the knowledge, perception and acceptability of microbicides among non-health care workers in Lagos, Nigeria.MethodsIn 2004, 200 non-health care givers were included in a cross-sectional descriptive study using semi-structured questionnaires.ResultsOf 200 respondents, 120 (60%) were women, while 80 (40%) were men. The respondents included journalists, drivers, hairdressers, clerks, technicians, students, and secretaries/typists. Those that had heard about microbicides accounted for 22.5%, while the respondents that had not heard accounted for 77.5%. Of the 22.5% that had heard about microbicides, 46% believed that it could be used to prevent HIV transmission while 54% did not. When assessed separately according to sex 5% of men and 35% of women had heard about microbicides. None of the men believed microbicides could prevent HIV transmission, while 50% of the women believed it could. The respondents felt that the product should be accessed over the counter in pharmacies. Correlation among knowledge, perception and acceptability of microbicides and previous knowledge, willingness to use and recommend microbicides was significant (P < 0.05).ConclusionsIt is worrisome from this study to see that those at high risk of HIV acquisition, hairdressers and truck drivers (for spouses and partners) were not willing to use the microbicide and did not believe it could prevent transmission of HIV/AIDS. However, it is believed that with the various enlightenment programs by some NGOs and the microbicide study that has just been completed, a better understanding about microbicides may have been achieved.

Parasitologic Assessment of Two-Dose and Monthly Intermittent Preventive Treatment of Malaria during Pregnancy with Sulphadoxine-Pyrimethamine (IPTP-SP) in Lagos, Nigeria

Intermittent preventive treatment of malaria with sulphadoxine-pyrimethamine (IPTP-SP) is a key strategy in the control of malaria in pregnancy. However, reports of increasing level of resistance to SP using nonpregnant populations have made it imperative for the continuous monitoring of the efficacy of SP in pregnant women. This study assessed using microscopy, monthly dosing and the standard two-dose regimen among 259 pregnant women attending antenatal clinics in Lagos, Nigeria that consented 122 in the two-dose arm (Arm A) and 137 in the monthly dose arm (Arm B). Baseline parasitaemia in the two groups was 5 (4.1%) and 3 (2.2%) in Arms A and B, respectively. Few of the women developed parasitaemia after the initial SP dose in Arms A 4 (3.3%) and B 2 (1.5%). However, none of the women had malaria infection after the second dose in both Arms. Although IPTP-SP is suggestive of protecting the women from malaria infection, there was no significant difference observed between the two dosing schemes.

Malnutrition influences tumor necrotic factor-alpha (TNF-α) response among Plasmodium falciparum (Pf) malaria patients in Nigeria

Background In malaria endemic regions, malnutrition has also been reported to be a public health problem. Considering that the pattern of host cytokines-mediated innate immunity is critical in determining malaria outcomes-understanding the impact of malnutrition on innate immune response in Plasmodium falciparum (Pf)-infected patients may be helpful for malaria control. This study aims to determine nutritional status and evaluate the influence of malnutrition on the immune response of infected patients in Lagos, Nigeria.

Anaemia following Artemisinin-Based Combination Treatments of Uncomplicated Plasmodium falciparum Malaria in Children: Temporal Patterns of Haematocrit and the Use of Uncomplicated Hyperparasitaemia as a Model for Evaluating Late-Appearing Anaemia

Background: In severe malaria, intravenous artesunate may cause delayed haemolytic anaemia but there has been little evaluation of the propensity of oral artemisinin-based combination treatments (ACTs) to cause late-appearing anaemia. Methods: The frequency of anaemia (haematocrit <30%), and temporal changes in haematocrit were evaluated in 1,191 malarious children following ACTs. “Haematocrit conservation” was evaluated by using the fall in haematocrit/1,000 asexual parasites cleared from the peripheral blood (FIH/1,000 asexual parasites cpb), and the ratio of the average haematocrit (on the first 3 days of starting treatment):total parasitaemia cleared. Results: The frequency of anaemia decreased significantly following treatment. FIH/1,000 asexual parasites cpb, average haematocrit:total parasitaemia cleared, and mean haematocrit 5 weeks after treatment began were significantly lower in hyperparasitaemic children than in children without hyperparasitaemia, suggesting haematocrit conservation during treatment followed later by a loss of haematocrit. Asymptomatic late-appearing anaemia occurred in 6% of the children. Conclusion: Artesunate-amodiaquine and artemether-lumefantrine contribute to haematocrit conservation at high parasitaemias but may cause late-appearing anaemia.