Prevalence and speciation of malaria parasites among patients attending Ahoada and Amassoma Communities' general hospitals in Rivers and Bayelsa State, Nigeria

Malaria is one of the deadly diseases recognized globally in children and adults especially in Nigeria and some African countries. This study was designed to determine Prevalence and Speciation of malaria parasites from patients attending Ahoada and Amassoma Communities’ General Hospitals in Rivers and Bayelsa States respectively. A total of two hundred (200) venous blood collected from Amassoma [101(40 males, 61 Female) and Ahoada [99; 46male, 53 females) into sterile Ethylene Diamine Tetra Acetic Acid (EDTA) bottles from patients attending the above mentioned General Hospitals were immediately transferred to Medical Microbiology Laboratory, Department of Medical Laboratory Science for analysis using Microscopy by staining, Rapid Diagnostic Tests kits (SD Bioline kits; Pf/pan and Pf specific kit) and molecular analysis by Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) technique. Twenty (20) positive samples were subjected to Polymerase Chain Reaction Technique for Speciation. Findings showed 141(70.5%) subjects positive to malaria parasites comprised of Children 25(12.5%) between age of 6 and 17 years, adult female 63(31.5%) and male 53(26.5%) between the age of 18 and 90. Also noted were subjects with age ranges of 6-10, 21-25, 51-55 and 86-90 years had the highest percentage prevalence of 100%, followed by 41-45 years with a prevalence rate of 83.3% and the least prevalence was 33.3% from 56-60 years. Observations showed that out of 20 positive samples subjected to molecular diagnosis for Speciation, 17(85%) were Plasmodium falciparum, thus revealing their predominance of 90%. In conclusion, Plasmodium falciparum was the predominant parasite among Plasmodia species responsible for malaria infection in both Rivers and Bayelsa States. Female and children are vulnerable to malaria infection as revealed in this study. Therefore, the government is encouraged to take women and children’s health into consideration by conducting malaria test for them weekly to enable prompt treatment where applicable