Co-Infection of Soil Transmitted Helminthes and Malaria Parasites: Relationship with Anaemia in Individual Living In Igbo-Ora, Oyo State. Nigeria

Abstract

Sub-Saharan Africa is endemic with malaria and soil transmitted helminthes. Helminth co-infection with malaria has detrimental effects on humans. This study aimed to evaluate the prevalence of each infection, co-infection and its effect on anaemia among individuals at Igbo-Ora, Oyo State. A cross-sectional study involving 274 individuals at Igbo-Ora was conducted from March to August 2013. Plasmodium and intestinal helminth infections were diagnosed using Giemsa-stained blood films and Kato-Katz technique, respectively and anaemia was determined by measuring the Packed Cell Volume (PCV) using the haematocrit centrifuge and reader. Among the participants, 21.2% were positive for Plasmodium parasites only, 28.8% were infected with intestinal helminthes only, while 6.9% were co-infected with Plasmodium and intestinal helminthes. Malaria parasite-hookworm had the highest prevalence of 27.0% among other co-infections but this was not statistically significant (P= 0.198, OR=1.532 95% CI=0.798-2.943). The overall prevalence of anemia was 12.8% ranging from individuals with no infection to individuals with co-infection. It was observed among individuals with Plasmodium infection that co-infection with Ascaris (malaria-Ascaris), hookworm (malaria-hookworm) and Ascaris-hookworm (malaria-Ascaris-hookworm) all had a negative association (ρ = -0.127, -0.124,-0.123, and -0.123 respectively) with PCV. The negative association of malaria parasites infection and malaria parasite-hookworm co-infection with anaemia were statistically significant (P= 0.036 and P= 0.025 respectively). Malaria parasite-Ascaris, malaria parasite-hookworm and malaria parasite-Ascaris-hookworm all gave rise to low PCV values leading to anaemia in the population of individuals living in Igbo-Ora.