Prevalence and Management of Falciparum Malaria among Febrile Patients in South-western Nigeria
Article Sidebar
Main Article Content
Abstract
The World Health Organization reported 241 million cases and 627,000 death from malaria in 2020 and Nigeria accounted for 27% of malaria death worldwide. Effective tools are continually developed through global efforts to have a malaria-free world. The study was aimed at assessing the prevalence and management of falciparum malaria among febrile patients in South-western Nigeria. This is a cross-sectional descriptive study conducted on febrile patients undergoing treatment at the outpatient units of selected hospitals in Ekiti and Ondo States, Nigeria between August 2019 and January, 2021. A total of 399 participants were enlisted in the study following informed consent. A structured questionnaire was administered to obtain socio-demographic information and the management of malaria among the participant and blood collected from them for malaria examination by microscopy and rapid test diagnosis. Two hundred and ninety-five (73.9%) of the subjects were females and 104(26.1%) males, with modal age of 21–28 years. There were 171(42.9%) and 228(57.1%) participants from Ekiti and Ondo States respectively. Subjects from Ondo State reported significantly higher occurrence of malaria than their counterparts from Ekiti State (p=0.005). Malaria occurrence was found to be significantly associated with age (p=0.047), occupation (p=0.001), individual’s perception of approach to malaria treatment (p=0.002) and use of local herbs (p=0.002). Artemisinin-based combination therapies (ACTs) were drugs of choice (76.3%) by the respondents; other drugs commonly used were Sulphadoxine-pyrimethamine (13.3%) and chloroquine/quinine (10.4%). The use of insecticide treated nets (26.6%), insecticide spray (25.3%), as well as, nets on windows and doors (15.8%) were reported as the major ways of controlling mosquito bites at home. The management of malaria among respondents is commendable; notwithstanding, healthcare professionals will need a combination of new approaches and tools in effective management of malaria.
Article Details
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Authors hold the copyright of all published articles except otherwise stated.
References
(2017). Prevalence of asymptomatic Plasmodium
falciparum and Plasmodium vivax malaria
carriage among school children of malaria
endemic areas of Mirab Abaya district, Southern
Ethiopia. Journal of Parasitology and Vector
Biology, 9(1): 1 – 7.
Atroosh, W. M., AL-Mekhlafi, H. M., Aljasari, A.,
Sady, H., AL-Delaimy, A. K., Nasr, N. A., Dawaki,
S., Abdulsalam, A. M., Ithoi, I., Lau, Y. L. and
Fong, M. Y. (2015). Genetic variation of pfhrp2 in
Plasmodium falciparum isolates from Yemen and
the performance of HRP2-based malaria rapid
diagnostic test. Parasites and Vectors, 8(1): 388.
Awosolu, O.B. and Ugboaja, C.K. (2021). Pattern of
malaria parasitemia in a high transmission setting
of Oba – Ile, Akure North, South
Western, Nigeria. Animal Research International,
18(1) 3947 – 3954.
Egbewale, B. E., Akindele, A. A., Adedokun, S.
A. and Oyekale, O. A. (2018). Prevalence of
asymptomatic malaria and anaemia among elderly
population in Osun State Southwestern, Nigeria.
International Journal of Community Medicine
and Public Health, 5(7): 2650 – 2656.
Ezeudu, CE., Ebenebe, JC., Ugochukwu, EF.,
Chukwuka, JO., Amilo, GI., Okorie, OI. (2015)
Performance of a Histidine rich protein-2 rapid
diagnostic test (RDT) against the standard
microscopy in the diagnosis of malaria
parasitemia among febrile under-five children at
Nnewi. Nigeria Journal of Paediatrics, 42:59-63
Jenkins, R., Omollo, R., Ongecha, M., Sifuna, P.,
Othieno, C., Ongeri, L., Kingora, J., and Ogutu,
Bernherds (2015). Prevalence of Malaria Parasites
in Adults and its Determinants in Malaria Endemic
Area in Kisumu County, Kenya. Malaria Journal,
14: 263.
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
(2016) https://www.niaid.nih.gov/diseasesconditions/
malaria. Accessed 21st of July, 2022
Noland, G.S., Graves, P.M., Adamu, S., Abel, E.,
Emmanuel, E., Patterson, A.E., Okorofor, I.,
Oji, O.U., Umar, M., Alphonsus, K., Damen, J.,
Ngondi, J., Ozaki, M., Cromwell, E., Obiezu,
J., Eneiramo, S., Okoro, C., McClintic-Doyle,
R., Oresanya, O., Miri, E., Emerson, P.M.
and Richards, F.O. (2014) Malaria prevalence,
anaemia and baseline intervention coverage prior
to mass net distributions in Abia and Plateau
States, Nigeria. Biomedical Journal of Infectious
Disease. 14:168.
Ogah, A.O., Ezeonwumelu, J.O., Okoruwa, A.G.,
Adiukwu, C.P., Ajayi, AM. and Akib, S. (2013).
Manifestations of severe malaria among the underfive
children attending Kampala International
University Teaching Hospital Bushenyi
Western Uganda: pilot study. British Journal of
Pharmacology and Toxicology. 4:128-135.
Okiki, P.A., Egbebi, A., Akharaiyi, F.C., Adewole,
E. and S.O Asoso, S.O (2022) Drug properties
and antimicrobial evaluations of extracts from
Phyllanthus amarus. Journal of Microbiology
& Experimentation, 10(1):10-16. DOI: 10.15406/
jmen.2022.10.00346
Roopa, S. and Rani, M. S. (2012). Questionnaire
designing for a survey. Journal of Indian
Orthodontic Society, 46: 273 – 277.
World Health Organization (2020). World malaria
report; 20years of global progress and
challenges. https://www.who.int/publications/i/
item/9789240015791 Accessed August 25, 2021.
World Health Organization (2021). Malaria https://
www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/
malaria. Accessed August 25, 2021.