Frequency of Merozoite Surface Protein 2 (MSP2) Allelic Families and Sulphadoxine-Pyrimethamine (SP) Resistance Markers Among Pregnant Women in Delta State, Nigeria)

Malaria in pregnancy is a public health problem and requires prophylactic treatment with Sulphadoxine–Pyrimethamine (SP) drug. However, the emergence and spread of SP-resistance P. falciparum parasite across Nigeria poses serious threat to the efficacy and effectiveness of this preventive intervention. This study aimed to determine the frequency of MSP2 allelic families and SP resistance molecular markers of P. falciparum among asymptomatic pregnant women in Asaba, Delta State. Rapid Diagnostic Test (RDT) and Microscopy were used to detect malaria parasite infection among the study participants. Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) was used to confirm parasitaemia using P. falciparum MSP2 as a marker while Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism (RFLP) was used to identify P. falciparum SP-resistance molecular markers at codons 51, 59, 108, 164 of dihydrofolate reductase (dhfr), and codons 437, 540, 581 and 431 of dihydropteorate synthetase (dhps) genes. The prevalence of malaria from the 410 pregnant women examined at first antenatal registration were 8.29% and 17.07% using RDT and microscopy, respectively (P 0.05). Single mutation of C59R in 10 (21.28%) cases was the most prevalent haplotype in the Pfdhfr/Pfdhps genes (P < 0.05). Mutation variations of Pfdhfr/Pfdhps identified were 15 (31.91%) single, 14 (29.79%) double, 13 (27.66%) triple and 5 (10.64%) quadruple with 5, 8, 6 and 3 unique haplotypes, respectively. The study recorded the presence of malaria parasites among the study participants. P. falciparum SP resistant genes were also detected and this may present a challenge in the usefulness of Intermittent Preventive Treatment (IPTp-SP) in pregnancy.