Prevalence of Congenital Malaria in Minna; North Central Nigeria

The study was designed to determine the true prevalence of congenital; cord; and placental malaria in General Hospital Minna; North Central Nigeria. Peripheral blood smears of near-term pregnant women; as well as the placental; cord; and peripheral blood smears of their newborn babies; were examined for malaria parasites; using the Giemsa staining technique. Out of 152 pregnant women screened; 21 (13.82) of them were infected with malaria parasites. Of the 152 new born babies; 4 (2.63) showed positive peripheral parasitaemia. Placental parasitaemia was 7/152 (4.61); while cord blood parasitaemia was 9/152 (5.92). There were strong associations between peripheral and cord malaria parasitaemia and congenital malaria (P 0.05). Plasmodium falciparum occurred in all; and none had mixed infection. The average birth weights of the babies delivered of nonmalarious pregnant women were higher than those delivered by malarious pregnant women; though not significant (P 0.05). Malaria parasitaemia occurred more frequently in primigravidae than multigravidae

Immune responsiveness associated with experimental Encephalitozoon intestinalis infection in immunocompetent rats.

PURPOSE: Microsporidial infections have been recognized as an increasingly important infection in immunocompromized patients, particularly those infected with HIV/AIDS. This study was designed to study immune responses associated with experimental Encephalitozoon intestinalis infection in immunecompetent rats. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Thirty-four rats in 3 groups, A (Control), B (Intraperitoneal) and C (Oral) were given injections of 0.5 ml of 2 x 10(6) of purified spores of Encephalitotozoon intestinalis spores and were observed for serum specific IgG for 21 days using both Direct and Indirect ELISA. RESULTS: In indirect ELISA, specific lgG were detected on days 7, 14 and 21 for the group B rats and on day 21 for group C and in direct ELISA method, specific lgG were detected in-group B rats on days 7 and 21, for group C rats on day 21 only, while in the control rats, specific lgG were not detected. There was no significant difference between the direct and indirect methods (df=1, X(2), P>0.05). E. intestinalis was observed in stool samples of rats in 1/12 (08.33%) on days 14 and 21 in group B and in 4/10 (33.33%), 3/10 (25.00%) and 2/10 (16.67%) on days 7, 14 and 21 respectively in group C. In-group, A which is the control rats, no microsporidia were observed on days 0, 7, 14 and 21. CONCLUSIONS: There were no changes in the T-lymphocyte counts of rats prior to and after inoculation with spores. Extensive lesions were observed along the intestinal walls especially on the middle and lower sections of group C rats only.

Amodiaquine treatment of uncomplicated malaria in children, in an area of chloroquine-resistant Plasmodium falciparum in north-central Nigeria.

The efficacy of amodiaquine against Plasmodium falciparum malaria was assessed in an area of confirmed chloroquine resistance in the cool, north-central plateau of Nigeria, using a 14-day protocol. The patients were all children aged <5 years of age. The drug proved highly efficacious, giving a cure 'rate' of 100% on day 14 and mean fever- and parasite-clearance times of 1.11 and 3.11 days, respectively. It was also well tolerated. Following treatment, packed-cell volumes (PCV) generally increased (65% of patients) but remained constant (12%) or even decreased (23%) in some patients; the overall improvement in PCV was not statistically significant (P >0.05). The results justify the use of amodiaquine to treat P. falciparum malaria in those who have failed treatment with chloroquine and the second-line drugs (e.g. sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine) currently used in Nigeria. As the amodiaquine would be better employed as one part of a combination than on its own, there is a need to identify suitable partner compounds.