Plasmodium/intestinal helminth co-infections among pregnant Nigerian women

ABSTRACT

Hospital based studies were conducted to investigate the occurrence of Plasmodium/intestinal helminth co-infections among pregnant Nigerian women, and their effects on birthweights, anaemia and spleen size. From 2,104 near-term pregnant women examined, 816 (38.8 percent) were found to be infected with malaria parasites. Among the 816 parasitaemic subjects, 394 (48.3 percent) were also infected with intestinal helminths, 102 (12.5 percent) having mixed helminth infections. The prevalence of the helminth species found in stool samples of parasitaemic subjects examined was, Ascaris lumbricoides (19.1 percent), hookworm (14.2 percent), Trichuris trichiura (7 percent) Schistosoma mansoni (3.4 percent), Enterobius vermicularis (2 percent), Hymenolepis sp. (1.6 percent) and Taenia sp. (1 percent). Mothers with Plasmodium infection but without intestinal helminth infection had neonates of higher mean birthweights than those presenting both Plasmodium and intestinal helminth infections and this effect was more pronounced in primigravids. The mean haemoglobin values of malarial mothers with intestinal helminth infections were lower than those with Plasmodium infection but without intestinal helminth infections but these were not statistically significant. Severe splenomegaly was predominant among parasitaemic gravidae who also harboured S. mansoni infection in two of the hospitals studied