Abstract

Malaria is a disease which is prevalent in tropical regions; however, it is preventable and curable with the use of certain micronutrients thereby reducing the life threatening disease. The effect of micronutrients (vitamin C, calcium, iron and magnesium) on mice infected with Plasmodium berghei NK-65 species was evaluated using standard methods. The percentage suppression and the parasitemia levels were counted daily to evaluate the effect of the micronutrients given intraperitoneally to the infected mice. The results show that vitamin C and calcium caused a significant decrease in the parasitemia count from 529 to 425/field and from 533 to 441/field respectively, while iron and magnesium caused significant increase in parasitemia level from 516 to 592/field and 528 to 709/field respectively. The packed cell volume increased in the mice treated with calcium, iron and vitamin C while there was significant decrease in the mice treated with magnesium. Red blood cell increased in the mice treated with iron. The white blood cell was reduced in the mice treated with iron and vitamin C but no significant change in the white blood cell of the mice treated with calcium but there was increase in the white blood cell of the mice treated with magnesium. The biochemical components of the blood from treated mice revealed that sodium significantly increased in the mice treated with the micronutrients with the highest sodium recorded in the mice treated with Iron. Therefore, foods or drugs that are rich in iron and magnesium should not be taken when treating malaria as they will aid parasite multiplication.

Key words: Micronutrients, Plasmodium, parasitemia, mice, blood.