Malaria Transmission and Fetal Growth

Abstract

SummaryIn view of the known relation between infection of the maternal circulation of the placenta with Plasmodium falciparum and impaired fetal growth a study was made of the effect on birth weights of a malaria eradication campaign in the British Solomon Islands. Mean birth weights rose substantially within months of starting antimalarial operations. The increases between 1969 and 1971 averaged 252 g in babies of primigravidae and 165 g in all babies. The proportion of babies with birth weights of less than 2,500 g fell by 8% overall and by 20% among babies of primigravidae. The adverse effect of malaria transmission on fetal growth was apparently reversible if transmission of infection in the community was interrupted up to as late as the third trimester of pregnancy. The beneficial effects of malaria eradication operations on infant survival, child development, and social attitudes in developing countries are discussed.

Malaria in pregnancy: the difficulties in measuring birthweight

“…Differences in birthweight are often used to compare the efficacy of interventions aimed to reduce the impact of malaria during pregnancy 95–98 . Such differences can clearly be affected by inaccuracies in measurement methods, and confounders such as those affecting gestational age or time of weighing.…”

Malaria in pregnancy in the Asia-Pacific region

“…37,48,50 Malaria reduces birthweight independently of anaemia. 58 Macgregor 90 identifi ed an exponential fall in the risk ratio for low birthweight in women during their fi rst pregnancy after a reduction in malaria transmission in the Solomon Islands. This Review does not address how malaria reduces birthweight, particularly with P vivax, which does not seem to cytoadhere in the placenta to the same extent as P falciparum.…”

Geographic Patterns of Immunity and Vascular Disease

“…Our studies in Shiraz showed, that severe stress during the onto geny of the cell-mediated immune response (T-cell response) during the first 6 months of life leads to a persistent reduction of T-cell function many years later [8], Nutritional damage or severe disease, as for instance severe diarrhoea [5], malaria [15], or trypanosomiasis [16] during development interferes irreversibly with the growth of the tissue [17]. One of the most rapidly multiplying systems immediately before and after birth is the thymic lymphoid system.…”