Background: The evolution of antimalarial drug resistance increases malaria's burden and is a recurring concern in the global fight against malaria. Medicinal herbs have played an important role in the treatment of malaria and have been advised in reducing Plasmodium parasite resistance to standard antimalarial medications. Papaya contains antimalarial bioactive chemicals. Medicinal plants have been found to have some limitations such as poor dosage regimens, determination of active phytochemical components and specific delivery issues at the right time without causing serious damage to the concerned tissue and organs in the body system. Using nanotechnology and nanomedicine for malaria treatment can overcome these limitations. Objective: This study was aimed to assess the potential of Carica papaya leaf extract with silver nanoparticles against Plasmodium berghei-infected mice. Materials and Methods: Fresh Carica papaya leaves were collected in Oke-Arade, Ogbomoso, active contents of leaves were extracted and biosynthesized silver nanoparticles were passed into the infected experimental mice. For the investigation, 40 mice were utilized, and their parasitemia level, haematological and histological parameters determined to assess safety effect of the nanoparticle as well as efficacy of the extract.  Kidney and liver samples were analyzed for haematological, parasitological, and histological parameters. Results: On days 3 and 5, Ag-NPs at 25mg/Kg and 50mg/Kg cleared malaria parasitemia better than plant extracts at 100mg/Kg and 200mg/Kg (p<0.05). The mice's weight loss improved on day 5 (p>0.05), as did PCV (p<0.05). Conclusion: The Ag-NPs synthesized with C. papaya showed antimalarial activity against Plasmodium berghei as more of the infected red blood cells were cleared indicating a decrease in parasitemia coupled with the reduction of the malaria parasite density across the experimental periods. This process of synthesizing Ag-NPs with the extract is simple and cost effective, thereby it's a promising antimalarial alternative.

Introduction: The introduction of P. falciparum encoded HRP-2 based malaria Rapid Diagnostic Test (RDT) kits is widely accepted in Nigeria and worldwide as a simplified form of diagnosis and a cheaper alternative to the microscopy technique (gold standard). However, deletion of Pfhrp2 gene contributes to false negative results and large number of such deletions has been reported in advanced countries thereby highlighting the importance of surveillance to detect such deletions in our local environment. Methodology: Microscopy as well as RDT techniques (using Rapid malaria test kit: SD BIOLINE Malaria Ag P.f/Pv, South Korea) were carried out on the blood samples of three hundred and twenty-three (323) febrile subjects attending Ladoke Akintola University Teaching Hospital, Osogbo, Osun State Nigeria. PCR analysis was also conducted on 50 blood samples that were positive for microscopy but negative for RDT. Results: The results from the study revealed that microscopy had a sensitivity of 99% and specificity of 99.2%. The RDT however had a sensitivity of 100% and a specificity of 60.1%. Fifty (50) samples that were positive for microscopy but negative for RDT were subjected to further PCR examination to detect the possible deletion of the Pfhrp-2 gene and the result revealed that the gene was present in 39 (78%) of the blood samples while remaining 11 (22%) samples lacked the gene which could possibly be the reason for the negative results obtained using the RDT kits. Conclusion: This study provides evidence of low level of presence of Pfhrp-2 gene deletion of Plasmodium falciparum parasites in our healthcare facility setting in Osogbo, Nigeria.

Aim: Praziquantel-based chemotherapy is generally effective in the control of morbidity, decline in the prevalence and intensity of Schistosoma mansoni infections. Nevertheless, the potential emergence of praziquantel resistance in S. mansoni posses danger in the elimination of this neglected tropical disease in Africa. Therefore, this study was designed to evaluate the in-vivo efficacy of Praziquantel and Artemisinin using mice infected with S. Mansoni cercariae. Methods: Infected mice with S. mansoni were treated with different doses of Artemisinin and Praziquantel from day 42 post infection to assess its efficacy on adult worms and eggs. A 2-day Protocol: artemisinin 400 mg/kg with Praziquantel of 500 mg/kg daily, 4-day protocol: artemisinin 200 mg/kg with praziquantel of 250 mg/kg daily, 6-day protocol: artemisinin 100 mg/kg with praziquantel of 125 mg/kg daily were used. A value of p <0.05 was considered as the level of significance using statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) version 21. Results: Of the 150 snails collected, 60(40%) were confirmed to be Biomphalaria, while 50(33.3%) and 40(26.3%) were Bulinus and Intercalatum respectively. Highest reduction of 66.3% was found in group II, compared with 58.8% and 56.5% significant reductions in groups I and III, respectively. Also, there were 77.8% and 74.2% significant reductions in eggs per gram of the small intestinal tissue noted in groups I and II respectively as against 63.1% reduction in group III. A significant decline in the percentage of total immature stages of 6.14% in group I was observed when compared to 66.14% in the control. Furthermore, a statistically significant boost of 57.57% was found in the protocol of Artemisinin 100 mg/kg with Praziquantel 125 mg/kg daily (6-day protocol) causing decreases of 43.9% and 42.4% in the total and female worm loads, respectively. The combination decreased intestinal tissue egg loads ranging from 63.1% to 77.8% and liver egg loads ranging from 56.5% to 66.3% rates. Conclusion: Combined effect of the drugs has confirmed some level of efficacy on experimental S.  Mansoni with significant reduction in tissue egg burden.

Introduction: Artemisinin-based combination treatments (ACTs) such as Artemisinin and mefloquine are generally accepted as the best forms of therapy for uncomplicated falciparum malaria and usually exceed more than 90% effectiveness. However, the problem of resistance to the target parasites remains a great challenge especially within the northcentral Nigeria. Therefore this study aimed to assess the burden of resistance of Plasmodium falciparum to artemisinin and Mefloquine from the blood smear febrile patients attending tertiary health facility in Ilorin, Nigeria. Methodology: The study was carried among two hundred and one (201) consented febrile individuals age ranged 1-46 years (Mean=22.7 years; M=39; F=61) between May and August 2019. Blood samples collected were subjected to Microscopy using Giemsa staining technique and Rapid diagnostic test (RDT) using (SD BIOLINE Malaria Ag P.f/Pv, South Korea) kit  to detect the presence of P. falciparum A semi-structured questionnaire was used to capture demographic and other relevant information while data was analysed with SPSS version 21. Results: Of the 201 samples tested, 113 (56.5%) were positive for Microscopy and RDT. Fifty of the positive samples for Microscopy and RDT were further subjected to PCR technique for the presence of Plasmodium falciparum and amplification of Kelch13 and FR1gene mutation of which one (2.0%) showed amplification for the PfKelch13 gene mutation for artemisinin while none was recorded for FR1 gene mutation in case of Mefloquine. Conclusion: This study reported a high rate of detection for Plasmodium falciparum using microscopy and RDT but moderately low rate of resistance to amplification for the PfKelch13 gene mutation for artemisinin but none for FR1 gene mutation for mefloquine by PCR. This suggests a clue for further monitoring of the artemisinin and Mefloquine resistance by detection of some molecular markers in k13 and FRI genes of Plasmodium in our communities in Nigeria.