PREVALENCE OF PLASMODIUM FALCIPARUM MALARIA AMONG PATIENTS ATTENDING UNIVERSITY OF ILORIN TEACHING HOSPITAL, ILORIN, NIGERIA

Abstract

This study reports malaria infection caused by the parasite Plasmodium falciparum in University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital (UITH), Ilorin, Kwara State, Nigeria. This study provides information on the infectivity rate of this parasite in dry season and the variation of laboratory diagnosed cases of malaria to clinically diagnosed cases. A total of 200 patients attending University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital (UITH) clinically diagnosed to have malaria were recruited into the study. Their blood samples were collected and analyzed microscopically for the presence of the parasite. Questionnaires were collated to obtain demographic and associated risk factors of the people to the infection. The study showed that microscopy stills remain a golden method for analyzing malaria infections in relation to the clinical methods; it also showed that malaria parasitaemia is low at dry season. 116(58.0%) were positive and 84(42.0%) negative of the subjects to the infection. The level of parasitaemia varied between 200 parasites/μl to 800 parasites/μl. 74.1% had lower parasitaemia of ≤ 500μl while 25.9% had a mild parasitaemia of 500μl. It is suggested that all clinically diagnosed cases of malaria should be followed up by microscopy test to ascertain the presence of the parasite before drug prescriptions are made so as to avoid drug misuse. Keywords : Plasmodium falciparum , Clinical symptoms, Laboratory diagnosis, Malaria Infection, Malaria parasitaemia