Plasmodium falciparum infection in pregnant women attending antenatal care in Luanda, Angola

Abstract

Introduction: Malaria during pregnancy remains a serious public health problem. The aim of this study was to establish the prevalence and possible risk factors for malaria in pregnant women attending antenatal care at Augusto Ngangula Specialized General Hospital in Luanda, Angola. Methods: Pregnant women (679 total) who attended antenatal care from April to September 2008 were included in the study after signing informed consent. For each participant, the social-demographic profile and malaria and obstetric histories were investigated via a questionnaire. Diagnosis was made by optic microscopy, and hemoglobin concentration measured. The associations between age, parity, gestational age, residence, schooling, malaria during gravity, anemia and treatment with incidence of Plasmodium falciparum infection were analyzed through logistic regression. Results: During the period of study, 74 (10.9%) out of 679 women were infected by P. falciparum. The average concentration of hemoglobin was 11.1 ± 0.07g/dL, and there were significant associations between the history of malaria during pregnancy, P. falciparum infection (p<0.01) and anemia at the time of observation (p<0.001). Conclusions: Previous history of malaria during pregnancy represents a risk factor for current infection and anemia was an important complication associated with malaria, even in women who were treated with sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine during pregnancy.

Prevalence and risk factors for Plasmodium falciparum malaria in pregnant women attending antenatal clinic in Bobo-Dioulasso (Burkina Faso)

“…This agrees with findings not only in areas of stable transmission of malaria [25],[33] but also in areas with unstable transmission [23],[34]. Anaemia was the main complication of malaria infection found in our study and remains the most frequent consequence of malaria during pregnancy irrespective of transmission level and pre-pregnancy level of malaria immunity [35].…”

“…In Mali, parity was significantly associated with malaria infection only when the analysis was not adjusted for age [21]. Other authors found no association between parity and malaria infection [19],[23],[25]. In the present study and as well as in that of Adam et al .…”

“…Indeed, all pregnant women included in the Ghanaian study had benefited from at least 2 doses IPTp-SP. A prevalence of 10.9% was found in Luanda, Angola, an urban site with similar malaria epidemiological characteristics [25] even though the survey had been conducted during high the transmission season of malaria. Our findings about the prevalence of malaria may be underestimated due to the use of microscopy of Giemsa-stained blood smears of peripheral blood for diagnosis.…”

Sociodemographic and Economic Traits That Affect Malaria Prevalence in Sussundenga Village, Mozambique.

“…In India malaria cases decreased with an increasing monthly income [37]. This result contradicts findings in Indonesia that indicated that working participants were 1.2 times more likely to have malaria than those who were not [38]. This could be due to type of employment.…”

Possible artemisinin-based combination therapy-resistant malaria in Nigeria: a report of three cases

“…However, these successes are threatened by the emergence of artemisinin-resistant strains of Plasmodium falciparum from the Thai-Cambodian border 3 and Thai-Myanmar border 4 . Indeed, artemisinin resistance is a major threat to global health, particularly in low-and middle-income countries (LMICs), in which the disease burden is highest, substandard or counterfeit ACT compounds are widely available, and systems for the monitoring and containment of resistance are inadequate [5][6][7] .…”