Incidence of Malaria Parasite in Blood Donors at Kwali General Hospital, FCT Abuja

Abstract

Malaria, although preventable and curable, is still one of the most potent killer diseases known to mankind. The disease has successfully been eradicated in some advanced countries, but the disease is still very well around in the developing countries, most especially in the tropical African countries where the climatic conditions favour the development of the vector. Nigeria is endemic for the disease. This research was conducted to determine the incidence of malaria parasite in donated blood at Kwali General Hospital, Abuja. Blood film examination for malaria parasites was carried out for 250 blood donors of which 140 (56%) tested positive to malaria parasite. Information was gotten from respondents on their sex, age and social status. The sample collections span from rainy to dry season between August, 2012 to July, 2013. The sex distribution of the infection, which was not statistically significant in the research showed a higher incidence of malaria infection for males with an incidence of 53.66%. The age of the donors examined ranged between 21 and 65 years. The donors that were between the ages 31- 40 years had the highest incidence of malaria infection with an incidence of 90.59%. The respondents at the lower class for social status had the highest incidence of 83.33%, out of the three social status classes, and a season distribution with a higher incidence of 81.93% at the rainy season. Based on the result of this research, it is recommended that in a bid to save lives, there is the need for blood banks to include malaria parasite species screening as a routine test of blood from the donors.