Abstract:
Background: Malaria is a serious public health problem in many parts of the world,
especially in Sub Saharan Africa where Nigeria bears the bulk of the disease. In
Nigeria, though Anopheles gambiae is the most dominant species across the
country, Anopheles arabiences is the most prevalent in the northern part of Nigeria
like Sokoto, while the Anopheles males are predominant in mangrove coastal zones
of the country. There are now known five different species of Plasmodium parasites
that cause malaria havoc in the globe; Plasmodium falciparum (P. falciparum), P.
ovale, P. malaria, P. vivax and P. knowlesi but, out of these species, P. falciparum
is the most prevalent and virulent that accounts for about 95 % of all malaria
infections in Nigeria. The significance of P.malaria , P. ovale and P. vivax are
neglected as non- P. falciparum parasites, which are currently invisible to most
public health authorities in Sokoto and Nigeria at large. Aim: Based on those
challenges, this study aims to determine this existing Plasmodium species in Sokoto
and establish the gold standard malaria diagnosis. In our knowledge, this is the first
cross sectional laboratory based descriptive study of plasmodium species in Sokoto,
North-Western Nigeria. Result: Our result showed that P. falciparum, P. ovale, P.
malaria, and P. vivax are present in Sokoto. Conclusion: Based on our finding, we
recommend malaria microscopy as the gold standard of malaria evidence based
diagnosis.
