Malaria and Intestinal Helminth Co-infection among Pregnant Women Attending Federal Teaching Hospital Gombe, Gombe State, Nigeria

Abstract

Malaria and intestinal helminth infections are of public health concern globally, particularly among the risk groups like pregnant women in developing countries. In this study the prevalence of malaria and intestinal helminth coinfection and their relationship with anaemia were assessed. Two hundred (200) pregnant women aged between 16-55 years reporting to Federal Teaching Hospital Gombe (FTHG), Gombe State for antenatal clinics were enrolled at booking. Venous blood and stool samples were collected from each participant who consented to participate in this study, for haemoglobin estimation, determination of malaria parasitaemia and intestinal helminth parasite. Microscopy and Formal-ether concentration technique (FECT) were used to estimate the prevalence of malaria and determine the presence of intestinal helminth parasite, respectively. Chi-square (χ2) test was used to analyse the relationship between prevalence of intestinal helminth infection with Malaria and Anaemia among the participant. Results obtained revealed that 107 (53.5%) who consented to participate in the study are positive for malaria, with 11 (5.5%) infected with both  malaria and intestinal helminths. Findings also revealed that more women 116 (58%) had mild anaemia among the study  population. Three intestinal helminths Ascaris lumbricoides, Trichiuris trichiura and Hookworms were also recovered. A significant (P≤ 0.05) correlation between the prevalence of malaria, intestinal helminth and anaemia. Findings of this study provides an insight and further improves our understanding of the some clinical factors responsible for anaemia in pregnancy.