Abstract

Prevalence of Malarial Parasites in Pregnant Women Attending Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital, Kano, Nigeria

Author(s): M. A. Isah* , A. I. Darma** and I. Sani***

Malaria in pregnancy remains a major public health problem especially in sub-Saharan Africa. However, the prevalence of clinical and asymptomatic infection among antenatal client (ANC) attendees is largely unknown. This study assessed the prevalence of malarial parasitemia among pregnant women attending antenatal clinic of Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital, in relation to their age, gestation period and parity. A total of 300 blood samples of pregnant women were tested to determine the prevalence of malarial parasites using Giemsa Stain method. Out of which 184 (61.3%) were found to be positive for malarial parasite, while 116 (38.7%) were negative for MP. 54 (29.3%) of the MP positive clients are within the age group of 21-25 which recorded the highest number, while the age group 41-45 recorded the least number of 1(0.54%). 131 (71.2%) of the positive clients were primigravidae, whereas 53 (28.8%) were multigravidae. Observations showed that there is high prevalence of 93 (50.5%) positive patients in 3rd trimester, followed by 82 (44.6%) in the 2nd trimester as well as 9 (4.9%) in the 1st trimester. This was attributed to the immunosuppression resulting from changes due to pregnancy. Malarial infection is common among the ANC clients attending Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital and the infection is commonly associated with anemia. The data was subjected to chi square analysis (Xo 2 =5.99 for 2d.f) which shows that there is no association between the distribution of the malarial parasite and the gravidity. Intermittent Preventive Treatment (IPT) should be provided especially among primigravid, secondigravid and younger mothers.

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