The prevalence of malaria among HIV seropositive individuals and the impact of the co- infection on their hemoglobin levels

• Published in: Annals of clinical microbiology and antimicrobials 2015-03, Vol.14 (1), p.10-10
• Main Authors: Tay, Sammy C K, Badu, Kingsley, Mensah, Anthony A, Gbedema, Stephen Y
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Aged; Analysis; Anemia; Antiviral agents; Care and treatment; CD4 Lymphocyte Count; Child; Child, Preschool; Coinfection - blood; Coinfection - epidemiology; Coinfection - physiopathology; Cross-Sectional Studies; Development and progression; Diagnosis; Female; Ghana - epidemiology; Health aspects; Hemoglobin; Hemoglobins - analysis; HIV; HIV (Viruses); HIV Antibodies - blood; HIV Seropositivity - blood; HIV Seropositivity - epidemiology; HIV Seropositivity - physiopathology; Human immunodeficiency virus; Humans; Infant; Infection; Malaria; Malaria - blood; Malaria - epidemiology; Malaria - physiopathology; Male; Methods; Microbiology; Middle Aged; Plasmodium falciparum; Prevalence; Prevalence studies (Epidemiology); Prevention; Statistics; Young Adult
• ISSN: 1476-0711; 1476-0711
• DOI: 10.1186/s12941-015-0064-6

Malaria and HIV/AIDS are the two most common infections in sub-Sahara Africa. There are hypotheses and study reports on the possible association between these two infections, hence the prevalence and outcome of their co-infection in an endemic population will be important in defining healthcare strategies. A cross sectional study was carried out at the Holy Family Hospital in Techiman, Ghana, between November 2011 and January 2012, to determine the prevalence of malaria among HIV sero-positive patients and its impact on hemoglobin levels. A total of 400 HIV sero-positive participants (292 females and 108 males) aged between 1 and 73 years were randomly sampled for the study. A questionnaire was administered and 2 ml of venous blood samples were drawn for malaria parasites detection, CD4 count and haemoglobin level estimations. Malaria parasites were detected in 47 (11.75%) of the participants. There was no statistically significant difference between the malaria prevalence rate of females (12.1%) and males (10.2%) P = 0.6047. An overall anaemia prevalence of 67% was observed. Among participants with malaria the anaemia prevalence was 93.6%. The CD4 cell count of all the participants ranged between 3 and 1604 cells/μl with a mean of 386.2 (±274.3) cells/μl. Participants with malaria had CD4 cell count ranged 3 and 512 Cells/μl with the mean being 186.33 (±133.49) Cells/μl. Out of 377 participants (all above 15 years) interviewed on knowledge of malaria transmission and prevention, 87.0% had knowledge on transmission but only 8.5% use in bed nets. It was revealed that almost all the patients with malaria infection were anemic.