No abstract

Abstract. Venule blood samples were randomly collected from eighty pregnant women receiving ante natal care in the University of Port Harcourt Primary Health Care Centre after obtaining ethical clearance. These blood samples were put in EDTA properly designated bottles and taken to the Parasitology Laboratory, Department of Animal and Environmental Biology for examination. The standard thick and thin smears were used to examine the blood specimens. Overall prevalence showed that 72.5% of the pregnant women were infected with malaria. Specific Plasmodium prevalence amongst the infected showed that 63.5% were infected with P. falciparum; 18.9% for P. vivax; 15.5% for P.malariae and 1.7% for P.ovale. There was no statistically significant (P>0.05) increase in the prevalence of Plasmodium species between the primigravidea (58.6%) and the multigravidae (41.3%). The disparity in parasitemia was attributed to pregnancy induced delayed antibody expression in the primigravidae. The study emphasized the significance of health education in malaria control especially during pregnancy.

No abstract

Soil nematode faunal analysis is necessary to ascertain the health status of the soil ecosystem. Composite soil samples were taken at designated sites; A, B, C and D from the Makerere Hill area, Kampala and analyzed to characterize the nematode fauna status. Soil samples were collected vertically at 0-5 cm, 5-10 cm and 10-15 cm core depths with a 5 cm wide soil auger. A total of 7,900 nematodes were collected from the study out of which 1,720 (21.8%) nematodes came from 0-5 cm core depth, 5,270 (66.7) from 5-10 cm core depth and 910 (11.52) from the 10-15 cm core depth. Species diversity showed nine orders of nematodes comprising twenty four families and forty nine species. The Order; Tylenchida had eight families and twenty five species. The Dorylaimida had six families and eleven species, The Rhabditida had families and seven species. The orders; Enoplida, Desmoscolida, Monhysteriida, Chromadorida, Araeolaimida and Tetracephalida had only one family and species each. Nematode species richness and abundance were more in the sites located at the lower fringes of the hill, induced by inherent environmental characteristics that promoted organic enrichment of the soil. The top soil (0-5 cm core depth) comprised the bacterivores c-p 1 (Rhabditis spp.) and c-p 2 nematodes (Desmoscolecidae Spp.), the 5-10 cm core depth had a composite population of all the trophic guilds but dominated by specialist obligates (plant parasitic) while the wide host range obligates (Meloidogyne spp., Pratylenchus spp. and Tylenchus spp.) occurred at 10-15 cm core depth. There was a large assortment of specialist parasites; Aphelenchus spp., Aphelenchoides spp., Aphastimatylenchus nigeriennsis and Trichodorus spp., occasioned by vegetation characteristics of the study area. The study area is a compendium of divergent habitats with peculiar ecomorphological characteristics that can serve as a reference in future environmental impact evaluation studies in relation to soil nematode faunal integrity in Uganda.

Aim: To investigate the prevalence of malaria and how demographic factors influence malaria parasite transmission among persons attending primary health care facilities in Oyigbo LGA, Rivers State, South-South, Nigeria. Methodology: Intra-venous blood samples were obtained from 190 participants who enrolled for the study. These blood samples were stored in ethylene diamine tetra acetate bottles (EDTA) and used to make thick and thin films for malaria parasite detection using standard parasitological techniques (Cheesbrough 1998). Questionnaires were administered to the participants to obtain their demographic data. Data were analysed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 25 and presented using descriptive statistics. Chi-square was used to obtain level of significance (p<0.05). Results: Of the 190 persons examined, 109 were positive, giving a prevalence of 57.4%. Plasmodium falciparum was the only malaria parasite observed. Females 67 (59.82%) were more affected than males 42 (53.84%) but this difference was not statistically significant (p>0.05). Age group 41-50 and those with Secondary education had higher prevalence. The difference observed in these groups was statistically significant (p<0.05). Artisans had the highest prevalence whereas the unemployed had the least prevalence. However, this difference was not statistically significant (p>0.05). Conclusion: Demographic factors have been shown to influence malaria transmission. Therefore, malaria control efforts should be intensified, taking into cognizance, the role of demographic factors in transmission.