Co-Endemicity of Plasmodium falciparum and HIV-Infections in Treated Patients is Uncorrelated in Benin City, Nigeria

Abstract

The Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and malaria are two of the world's most formidable pathogens. Coinfection has been shown to amplify the effects of both diseases with HIV infection enhancing the severity of malaria. Previous work in our laboratory has shown that individuals infected with malaria and HIV who are taking anti-retrovirals have the Plasmodium parasite in their bloodstream suggesting that the lack of anti-malarials in their drug regimen resulted in Plasmodium infection. In this study, we set out to determine the status of Plasmodium infection in a cohort of patients taking both anti-malarial and anti-retroviral drugs. Blood samples were collected from patients of the Edo district of Nigeria in Benin City co-infected with Plasmodium and HIV. We have found that 31 out of the 317 (9.78%) HIV patients on HAART and ACT had Plasmodium in their blood based on microscopic counts. Surprisingly, using the polymerase chain reaction (PCR), the prevalence was at 25.6% for Plasmodium. In addition, we have identified by PCR that Plasmodium falciparum is the only species infecting these patients. Furthermore, no significant relationship was found to exist between CD4 + T-cell counts and malarial infections (CD4 count<200 cells/µL (7.20%)) nor was the malaria parasite density significantly associated with CD4 count<200 cells/µL (P=0.595) in this study population in Benin City, Nigeria. These results suggest that other factors are involved in this complex interaction.

Status of Anaemia and Malaria Co-infection With HIV From HAART Clinics in Federal Capital Territory, Nigeria: A Cross-Sectional Study

“…Analysis of sex-related prevalence of malaria among the HIV-infected patients in this study revealed that more men than women were co-infected. This finding corresponds with the findings of Akinbo et al 9 and Wariso, 18 but contradicts the report of Saracino et al 19 who found higher co-infection rate in women. The finding from this study is most likely due to men having more exposure to the parasite as a result of day-to-day activities which could extend till late in the night.…”

“…The prevalence of malaria in patients attending 3 major hospitals in Abuja, FCT, was observed to be 33.8% (142 of 420). The co-infection rate from this study is extremely high (33.8%), compared with the 2.9% obtained in Lagos 6 ; the 7.8% reported in Kogi 10 ; the 2.11% and 9.78% found in Benin City, Nigeria 8,9 ; the 18.81% reported by Chinedum et al 13 ; and the 4% observed in Uganda. 17 A higher co-infection rate (43.96%) than that obtained from this study has however been found in South-Eastern Nigeria by Ukibe et al 12 The high rate of malaria co-infection seen in this study could be indicative of the increased exposure of HIV-infected patients to the parasite.…”

“…5,6 With a current population of 200 million and a declined HIV prevalence of 1.4%, malaria could pose a major threat to the progress made on HIV prevention and management in Nigeria over the years. Very few Nigerian studies [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13] have reported malaria co-infection with HIV, most of which were studies done in the southern part of the country. No study has reported the status of malaria co-infection with HIV in Abuja, to the best of our knowledge.…”

Human Immunodeficiency Virus and Malaria Co-Infection among Adults in the North-Central Zone of Nigeria, in the era of Improved access to Prevention and Control: A Study Protocol

“…A High level of HIV-malaria co-infection has been documented during the post-ART era. Akinbo et al, in his research study, reported HIV-malaria co-infection prevalence of 9.8% and 7.8%, respectively (Akinbo Omoregie et al, 2013;Akinbo, Anate et al, 2016). Similarly, the relatively higher prevalence was reported among participants on ART.…”