Severe malaria parasitaemia and its effects on hemoglobin and CD4+ cells of HIV infected pregnant women at Kaduna State, Nigeria

Publication date: December 2016 Source:Asian Pacific Journal of Tropical Disease, Volume 6, Issue 12 Author(s): Idris Abdullahi Nasir, Olajide Olubunmi Agbede, Mustapha Bakare, Muhammad Musa Babandina Severe malaria and HIV coinfection is a disastrous syndemism especially in the face of antimalarial resistance and pregnancy. This case-control study investigated the effects of severe malaria parasitaemia (SMP)/HIV coinfections on hemoglobin concentration and CD4+ cell counts of pregnant women attending four government-owned secondary hospitals in Kaduna State, Nigeria. Eighteen HIV-infected women with SMP served as test subjects while 23 HIV-uninfected women with SMP served as control subjects. All test subjects were on first-line antiretroviral therapy. Antimalarial susceptibility testing (using chloroquine, artesunate, artether and sulfadoxin-pyrimethamine), CD4+ cell counts and hemoglobin concentration were conducted using schizont maturation assay, flow cytometry and methemoglobin methods respectively. Multidrug-resistant severe malaria parasitemia (MDRSMP) was defined by resistance against three or more antimalarial drugs. Eight (44.4%) women with SMP/HIV coinfections and none of the control subjects had MDRSMP respectively. There was statistical association between MDRSMP in test and control subjects (P = 0.015). Women with SMP had significantly low hemoglobin concentration [(7.1 ± 1.8) g/dL] and low CD4+ cell counts [(209.0 ± 43.0) cells/mmc] when compared with ...
Source: Asian Pacific Journal of Tropical Disease - Category: Tropical Medicine Source Type: research