Impact of Plasmodium falciparum Parasitaemia on Platelet Levels among Pregnant Women Attending State Specialist Hospital Maiduguri, Borno State Nigeria

B. Timothy1, Y. Inuwa1, M.A. Muhammad1, A.B. Suleiman1, J.Y. Dahiru2, K.A. Makinta1

1Department of Zoology, Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Maiduguri, Maiduguri, Nigeria.
2Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Life Sciences, Federal University of Kashere, Nigeria.

*Corresponding author’s Email: mamuhammad@unimaid.edu.ng, doi.org/10.55639/607.02010042


ABSTRACT

Malaria is a major public health problem in Sub-Saharan Africa. Most of the infections are asymptomatic, affecting mainly pregnant women and children. This was conducted to investigate the impact of P. falciparum parasitaemia on Platelets amongst pregnant women attending State specialist hospital Maiduguri, Borno State, Nigeria. Blood samples were collected from 384 pregnant women and subjected to microscopy for detection of malaria parasite using thick and thin blood films, whereas the parasite density was counted by the method of WHO, 2008 while the Platelets was estimated using sysmexhaematology auto-analyser. A total number of 304 (79.16%) tested positive of Plasmodium falciparum malaria, and 80(20.83%) tested negative of Plasmodium falciparum malaria. It was observed that there was a negative correlation between the parasite densities and Platelets among the infected pregnant women (r=-0.9304, P=0.05) as well as between parasite density and trimesters (r=-0.949, p=0.05), (r=-0.9179, P=0.05), and (r=-0.943, P=0.05) respectively. In conclusion, Malaria infection can affect some haematological parameters of the infected pregnant women and therefore regular and consistent screening of malaria should be conducted on each hospital visits.

Keywords:

Malaria,
Plasmodium falciparum,
Platelets,
Infection,
Pregnancy