Olomu Segun Afolabi¹*, Ubom Gregory Abraham¹, Gazuwa Yusuf Samuel¹, Johnson Titilayo¹, Garba Ibrahim Hassan² and Okolo Selina Nnuaku³

¹Department of Biochemistry, University of Jos, Plateau, Nigeria

³Paediatrics Department, Jos University Teaching Hospital (JUTH), Jos, Nigeria

*Corresponding Author: Olomu Segun Afolabi, Department of Biochemistry, University of Jos, Plateau, Nigeria.

Received: April 07, 2022; Published: May 24, 2022

Abstract

Background: Malaria threatened almost half of the world’s population. A quarter of global malaria cases and deaths occur in Nigeria, mostly in children under the age of 5 years.

Objective: This study was aimed at determination of effects of protein nutritional status, prior malaria exposure, associated morbidity, and chloroquine treatment on biochemical and haematological parameters in children under 5 years with Plasmodium falciparum malaria.

Method: The nutritional status of the recruited children was assessed using the Advanced Paediatric Life support (APLS) formula, while malaria diagnosis, determination of bacterial and viral infection, and assessment of Plasmodium falciparum parasitaemia were carried out using standard microscopy techniques. The complete blood count was carried out using Beckman Coulter Analyzer.

Results: At mean age of 18.54 ± 1.59 months, the 93 children recruited for this study were not malnourished. The expected weight-for-age was 83.53% and 82.92% for the two groups. The expected height-for-age was 85.62% and 91.62% for the two groups. 44.08% of these children have previous history of malaria and 23.66% of the children were never infected with malaria. The malaria history of 32.26% of the children could not be ascertained. 54.35% of the 46 malaria subjects had bacterial infection, 6.52% had viral infection, and 39.13% presented only malarial parasite. There was no significant difference (p < 0.05) in all the parameters when compared based on malaria history and comorbidity.

Conclusion: The studied children were not malnourished. P. falciparum infection comorbidity is prevalent. Previous malaria exposure and comorbidities did not influence any of the parameters determined.

Keywords: Malaria; Chloroquine; Malnutrition; Comorbidity; Parasitaemia; Children

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Citation

Citation: Olomu Segun Afolabi., et al. “Investigation of the Effect of Protein Nutritional Status, Previous Malaria Exposure, and Comorbidity on Biochemical and Haematological Indices of Plasmodium falciparum Malaria in Nigerian Children Under the Age of 5 Years". Acta Scientific Microbiology 5.6 (2022): 59-68.

Copyright

Copyright: © 2022 Olomu Segun Afolabi., 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.