Ali AA¹*, Pam VA¹, Ombugadu A¹, Uzoigwe NC² and Uzoigwe NR¹

¹Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, Federal University of Lafia, Nasarawa State, Nigeria
²Nigerian Institute for Trypanosomiasis (and Ochocerciasis) Research, Vom, Plateau State, Nigeria

*Corresponding Author: Ali AA, Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, Federal University of Lafia, Nasarawa State, Nigeria.

Received: January 24, 2023; Published: March 07, 2023

Abstract

Communities in rural areas bear greater challenges and burden with parasitic infections due to conducive factors in their environs which supports the survival and transmission of parasites. To this end, we undertook the study on haemoparasites infection in some selected rural communities in Akwanga LGA of Nasarawa State, Nigeria. Field stained A and B venous blood samples were collected from 202 individual volunteers and screened parasitologically for presence of malaria parasites and trypanosomes. Only 38 (18.81%) individuals were infected with Plasmodium falciparum while trypanosome infection was not found. Of the five communities investigated, Akwanga East had the highest infection rate of 23.25% followed by Agyaga, Andaha, Ancho-Nighaan and Ancho-Baba communities respectively in the order 20.51%, 19.04%, 17.50% and 13.15%. Most subjects in the age group 20-29 years were malaria positive and no individual in age group 60 years and above had malaria infection. Infection was higher in the females than males but the difference was not significant (P > 0.05). The zero prevalence of trypanosome infection observed in the study area hitherto known to be that Human African Trypanosomiasis endemicity may be linked to changes in the habitat of the Glossina vectors resulting from deforestation, expansive agricultural land use and increase in new rural settlements leading to the elimination of the vectors which directly hinders transmission. This study has provided insight to the burden of haemoparasite infection recorded among the rural communities studied and the need for continued sustenance of control measures against malaria infection.

 Keywords: Haemoparasites; Infection; Human Populations; Rural Communities; Akwanga LGA

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Citation: Ali AA., et al. “Haemoparasites Infection in Rural Agrarian Communities in Akwanga LGA of Nasarawa State, Nigeria". Acta Scientific Clinical Case Reports 4.4 (2023): 26-30.

Copyright: © 2022 Ali AA., et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.