Fever is one of the most common symptoms of disease in children, accompanies a range of illnesses and is often treated at home before medical attention is sought. An investigation of fever management among parents of children under five was carried out to evaluate parental perception. Parents of 1143 children were randomly selected and interviewed to answer a questionnaire about fever. Majority of parents (63%) perceived fever to be hotness of the body and had no idea of the normal body temperature and so did not use a thermometer. 621 parents representing 54% irrespective of their educational qualification and age suspected malaria as the most likely cause of fever which made them act within 24 h by administering antimalarial drugs at home without medical diagnosis. Parents felt that an untreated fever could result in convulsion (16%) and even death (14%) which informed some harmful practices. The educational level of parents was statistically insignificant (p>0.05) and had no bearing on the knowledge of fever while the age of parents had a strong correlation with their perception and fever management. Based on the outcome of this study, there is a need for appropriate education to prevent the abuse of antimalarial drugs and also to stop some crude and harmful practice employed to arrest a convulsive child.

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Malaria, a global health problem especially in the sub-Sahara region has been posing a recurrent problem due to the resistance of the parasites to the available antimalarial drugs despite the preventive measures provided by WHO. Aims: This study is aimed at determining the prevalence of resistance markers in four Niger Delta states of Nigeria, a decade after withdrawal of chloroquine. Methods: Eight hundred and forty six (846) subjects participated in the study and were distributed as follows, 192(22.7%) Bayelsa; 218(25.8%) Rivers; 196(23.2%) Edo and 240(28.4%) Delta respectively. Malaria parasite identification was carried out using standard parasitological techniques. Genotyping of the resistance markers Pfcrt K76T and Pfmdr 1 was carried out by Polymerase Chain Reaction-Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism (PCR-RFLP). Results: Our findings revealed that the prevalence of malaria infection in the four Niger Delta states were 78.1%, 68.8%, 62.8% and 58.8% in Bayelsa, Rivers States, Edo and Delta respectively. There was no statistical difference in the prevalence of malaria within the four Niger Alade et al.; IJTDH, 39(3): 1-11, 2019; Article no.IJTDH.52075 2 Delta states. (P>0.05). Children below the age of 5 years recorded the highest infection rates when compared to subjects in other age groups (P< 0.01). Our findings also revealed that the distribution of mutant Pfcrt K76T and Pfmdr 1 genes across the four states were 12.0% and 28.6%, 4.0% and 22.0%, 14.6% and 29.3%, 10.6% and 25.0% in Bayelsa, Rivers, Edo and Delta state respectively. However, the prevalence of Pfcrt K76T in Rivers State was statistically lower when compared to other states (P < 0.01) while no statistical difference existed in the distribution of Pfmdr 1 mutant genes (P>0.01). Conclusion: Prevalence of Pfcrt and Pfmdr 1 remained elevated in the Niger Delta states despite the withdrawal of chloroquine over a decade ago. Hence, Nigeria is far from an eventual reintroduction of chloroquine as its resistance markers still persist in our communities. Furthermore, the root cause of the persistence of these resistance markers needs to be investigated. Original Research Article