PREVALENCE AND DISTRIBUTION OF MALARIA, PFCRT AND PFMDR1 GENES AMONG PATIENTS ATTENDING FUT AKURE HEALTH CENTRE, NIGERIA

Abstract

This research evaluated the prevalence and distribution of malaria, Plasmodium falciparum chloroquine resistance transporter (Pfcrt) and Plasmodium falciparum multidrug resistant (Pfmdr1) mutant genes among Patients attending FUTA Health Centre. A retrospective study was carried out on the results of tests that were carried out on Patients who came for malaria test in 2015 while blood samples of patients coming for malaria test were collected between December 2015 and February 2016. Information about sex, age, status and date of collection of blood samples of each Patient were recorded. The mean temperature and rainfall data from January to December 2015 were recorded. One hundred and forty (140) patient’s blood samples were examined out of which 74(52.86%) were males and 66(47.14%) were females. Malaria test was done by thick blood film microscopy and Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) technique. PCR technique was used to detect Pfcrt and Pfmdr1 mutant genes of P. falciparum. Pearson’s Chi-square test was used for analysis. In 2015, a total of 2,616 people were tested for malaria parasite out of which 2,058 (78.7%) were positive for malaria parasite. The highest and the lowest prevalence of malaria infection in 2015 was recorded in November (95.6%) and October (45.2%) respectively and showed significant difference (P < 0.05) while the percentage distribution of malaria infection among male and female patients in 2015 was 973 (77.7%) and 1,085 (79.6%) respectively with significant difference (P < 0.05). The prevalence of Pfcrt (95%) and Pfmdr1 (45%) showed significant difference (P < 0.05). The research revealed high prevalence of Pfcrt and Pfmdr1 mutant genes of P. falciparum among patients which may be as a result of treatment of malaria with Chloroquine and other medication which the parasite has formed resistance against. In conclusion, it is important to adopt a new means through which the infection can be treated apart from the use of drugs in which the parasite has formed resistance against.