TITLE:
Prevalence, Clinical Features and Outcome of Neonatal Malaria in Two Major Hospitals in Jos, North-Central Nigeria
AUTHORS:
Udochukwu M. Diala, Kenneth I. Onyedibe, Akinyemi O. D. Ofakunrin, Olubunmi O. Diala, Bose Toma, Daniel Egah, Stephen Oguche
KEYWORDS:
Neonatal, Malaria, Prevalence, Amodiaquine, Bed Nets
JOURNAL NAME:
Advances in Infectious Diseases,
Vol.7 No.3,
August
30,
2017
ABSTRACT: Malaria was thought to be rare in neonates. However,
recent studies report increasing prevalence in neonates. Clinical features of
neonatal malaria have also not been adequately reported. This study was
undertaken to assess the prevalence, clinical features and outcome of malaria
in neonates admitted into two tertiary hospitals in Jos, Plateau State. All
consecutive neonates aged 0 - 28 days admitted into the neonatal units of Jos University Teaching
Hospital and Bingham University Teaching Hospital, Jos were recruited into the
study. Giemsa stained blood films of the neonates were examined by trained
microscopists. Neonates with malaria had presenting clinical features recorded and treated with
amodiaquine (1st line) and quinine (2nd line). Clinical
features and parasitaemia were monitored for 14 days for outcome. Of the 301
neonates enrolled, 16 had malaria parasitaemia giving a prevalence of 5.3%. Congenital
malaria accounted for 87.5% of cases of neonatal malaria. Plasmodium falciparum mono-infection was responsible for all the
cases of malaria. ITN use in pregnancy offered some protection against neonatal
malaria (CI=0.2 - 0.7). The median parasite density was 255 (72, 385) parasites/μl. Fever
was significantly present in 10 (66.7%) of the cases (p=0.03). Fifteen of the 16 neonates had clinical and parasitological cure
on treatment with amodiaquine. One treatment failure had cure after retreatment
with quinine. There was no mortality in all 16 neonates treated for malaria. Malaria
is not rare in neonates on admission in Jos. Fever is the commonest clinical
feature of neonatal malaria. Amodiaquine provided effective treatment of
malaria in neonates in Jos.