The risk of transfusion transmitted malaria and the need for malaria screening of blood donors in Abuja, Nigeria

Abstract

Background: Blood transfusion saves life but it is also a major risk factor in the transmission of certain infections such as malaria, which remains a public health problem in tropical and sub-Saharan Africa. Methodology: This study investigated the prevalence of malaria among 550 blood donors aged 18 to 60 years from blood bank units of some selected hospitals in Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, using gold standard microscopy for malaria parasite detection. Results: Two hundred and fifty two (45.8%) donors were positive for malaria parasites. Replacement donors had higher prevalence rate of malaria compared to voluntary donors. The distribution of infection on the basis of age revealed the highest prevalence rate of malaria among the 20-29yrs age group. The rate of infection among the males and the females was not significantly different (p>0.05). No association was observed between the blood group types and the rate of malaria infection (p > 0.05). Conclusion: A high prevalence of malaria parasitaemia was observed among blood donors in FCT, Abuja, Nigeria in this study. The introduction of malaria screening as part of routine screening for blood donation and the provision of modern blood screening equipment within healthcare facilities are highly advocated.

Prevalence of Transfusion-Transmitted Infections (HCV, HIV, Syphilis and Malaria) in Blood Donors: A Large-Scale Cross-Sectional Study

“…Several studies conducted in Ethiopia (4.1%) [ 51 ] and Tanzania (8%) [ 52 ] reported high levels of anti-malarial antibodies. Ezeonu et al [ 53 ] in Abuja, Nigeria, recorded a higher prevalence (45.8%), whereas a lower prevalence (0.11%) was observed in Pakistan [ 54 ].…”

Association between Rhesus Blood Groups and Malaria Infection: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

“…Based on the STROBE criteria, two-thirds of studies (75%) were of moderate quality [22,24,[26][27][28][29][30][31][33][34][35][36][38][39][40][41]43,[45][46][47][48]50,[52][53][54][55]. Meanwhile, eight studies were of high quality (22.2%) [23,25,31,37,42,44,51,56], and one was of low quality (2.78%) [49] (Table S3).…”

“…The remaining seven studies reported a higher proportion of malaria in Rh+ individuals than in Rh− individuals, though no statistical significance or statistical analysis has been performed [21,32,38,43,50,53,54]. Sixteen studies (44.4%) showed a lower proportion of malaria in Rh+ individuals than in Rh− individuals [23,24,26,[29][30][31]34,37,39,40,44,45,47,48,52,55]. Among these studies, a significantly lower proportion of malaria among Rh+ individuals was reported by two studies [39,44].…”

“…Eleven studies reported a lower proportion of malaria among Rh+ individuals than in Rh− individuals, however, no statistical analysis has been performed [23,24,26,[29][30][31]34,40,47,52,55]. The other seven studies reported the association between the Rh blood group and malaria infection [22,28,49], parasite density [33,36], or malaria severity [35,51].…”

A review of the role of infections in the aetiology of haemolysis in patients with sickle cell diseases: pathogenesis, management, and prevention

“…Five mosquito transmissible Plasmodium species: P. falciparum, P. vivax, P. malariae, P. ovale, and P. knowlesi, have been associated with human infections, with the first two being the most important species (25). SCD patients in tropical countries are at double risk of acquiring malaria through mosquito bites and blood transfusions because a significant proportion of tropical blood donors have asymptomatic malaria (27,28). Interestingly, a recent study demonstrated that in comparison to blood donors with SCT, donors with HbAA were associated with higher risk of asymptomatic malarial parasitaemia, which implied that HbAA blood carries higher risk of transfusion transmitted malaria (TTM) (29,30).…”