Abstract

We studied 270 patients attending the booking antenatal clinic recruited for three months in the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), Nigeria. Each patient was screened for malaria parasites using Giemsa’s stain of thick and thin blood films on 2 ml venous blood. Parameters on the age, parity, gestation at booking, booking weight, haemoglobin status among others were obtained. Most of the booked patients are primigravida (55%) with 58.4% of the cases between 14 - 26 weeks gestation. 48 and 65% of patients were of blood group O positive and genotype AA. The prevalence rate for malarial parasitaemia was 34% and mostlyPlasmodium falciparum were isolated. However, a negative correlation exist between malaria parasitaemia and age of patient (r = - 0.02), parity (r = - 0.02) and gestation at booking (r = -0.08). Malarial parasite load was high especially in primigravida and in second trimester of pregnancies. Since most of the fetal losses associated with malarial parasitaemia in pregnancies occurred during this period, greater attention be paid to this vulnerable group.

Key words: Booking weight, gestational age, LASUTH, malarial parasite, parity.