Malaria Parasite Infection in Some Periurban and Rural Communities in Ekiti State, Nigeria

Abstract

Introduction: Malaria is one of the leading parasitic diseases worldwide with Nigeria ranked the topmost country in the tropical Africa where the disease is prevalent. This study was designed with the aim to determine the prevalence of malaria parasite (MP) infection in some periurban and rural communities of Ekiti State being one of the 36 states of Nigeria.
 Materials and Methods: Three periurban and rural communities were randomly selected in Ekiti State for the study. Blood samples were collected and examined microscopically for the presence of MP in dry and raining seasons among human volunteers in each community. Prevalence of MP infection was determined.
 Results: Overall prevalence of MP infection was 26% in dry season and 38% in raining season (P = .001). In dry season, prevalence of MP infection was 22.3% in periurban communities and 31.3% in rural communities (P = .001). During the raining season the prevalence was 39.8% in periurban and 35.9% in rural communities (P = .12), with Plasmodium falciparum being the dominant species. Children of 0-5 years had the highest prevalence of infection (61.1%) during raining season while teenagers between 16-20 years had the highest prevalence of infection (31.5%) in the dry season. Generally, there was an increase in malaria parasite density during raining season.
 Conclusion: This study confirmed the existence of MP infection in Ekiti State. The distribution of MP infection in both periurban and rural communities was affected by season with higher prevalence occurring during the raining season.

Epidemiology of falciparum malaria among residents of some rural and peri- urban communities in Ekiti State, Southwestern Nigeria

“…The high malaria parasite prevalence recorded is an evidence that malaria infection is endemic, and transmission is ongoing and have formed a stable pattern in Ikole Local Government Area of Ekiti State, Nigeria. The only malaria parasite species recorded in this study area was P. falciparum similar to the findings of studies reported from within and outside Ekiti State, Nigeria (FMOH, 2008;Simon-Oke et al, 2012;Esan et al, 2014;Nyamngee et al, 2014;Salau et al, 2016;Awosolu et al, 2019;Olorunniyi et al, 2019). In the same vein, World Health Organization has observed that most prevalent malaria parasite species in sub Saharan Africa was P. falciparum (WHO, 2003).…”

Study of Plasmodium Infection among Primary School Children in Lafia Local Government Area, Nasarawa State, Nigeria

“…The observation is in agreement with reported prevalence in Anambra schools [17] and Naset al [18] in Kano. However, it was not in agreement with the lower prevalence reported by Jombo et al [19] in Makurdi, Ukaga et al [20] in Imo state, Nigeria and Olorunniyi et al [21] in Ekiti State. In Ethiopia, Abossie et al [5] reported high prevalence in children while Kuadzi et al (22) in Ghana reported low prevalence.…”

Relationship of Climatic Variables with Abundance of Indoor Mosquito Genera in Six Communities in Ekiti State, Nigeria

“…have been reported in organically polluted water containing human faeces, oil from refinery and sewage pond indicating that Anopheles can as well breed in dirty water [16]. The higher prevalence of malaria parasite infection recorded during rainy season than the dry season in these communities [9] must be due to the population of Anopheles mosquitoes (the vectors of malaria parasites) which was higher in the rainy season than the dry season. Temperature appeared not to have a significant relationship with the abundance of mosquito genera in these communities.…”

“…The method for selection of the study communities had been fully described in the early study [9]. The six study communities were selected through a multi-stage sampling method in which one peri-urban and one rural area were selected from each of the three Senatorial Districts of Ekiti State.…”

“…The communities were Iye, Ewu, Iyin, Eyio, Agbado and Ilupeju-Ijan. A study involving prevalence of malaria parasite infection had earlier been carried out in these communities [9].…”