Study on Relative Abundance of Plasmodium species: A case of Patients Attending Jahun General Hospital, Jiagawa, Nigeria.

Abstract

A study on relative abundance of Plasmodium species was conducted using blood film technique. For a 12 month period, 4037 positive blood films were exaqmined for a particular species of Plasmodium. The result revealed that 3208 (79.46%) were Plasmodium falciparum, 157 (03.89%) were P. ovale and 672 (16.65%) were P. malariae. This showed that P. falciparum was the most abundant and the relative abundance of the species had heightened in July, 2008 due to rain which favours vector survival.

Keywords: abundance, plasmodium, relative, thin blood film, malaria control programmes.