High Risk of Transfusion-Transmitted Malaria (TTM) from Student Blood Donors Living in the Town of Douala, Cameroon

Blood transfusion is a rapid and effective public health intervention used for persons with multi-factorial life-threatening anemia. Although contributing in managing and saving human lives, blood transfusion nonetheless can induce immunological adverse reaction and represent one obvious hazard for transmission of many infectious diseases, among which malaria. 

According to the latest estimates, 214 million cases of malaria occurred globally in 2015 and the disease led to 438 000 deaths. The burden is heaviest in the WHO African Region, where an estimated 88% and 90% of all malaria cases and deaths occur respectively, and in children aged less than 5 years, who account for 78% of all deaths. Transfusion-transmitted malaria (TTM) is a real public health problem. It can impair the health of recipients living in endemic malaria areas and even be fatal despite their relative semi-immunity. Read more>>>>>>>>>>>

High Risk of Transfusion-Transmitted Malaria (TTM) from Student Blood Donors

This study aimed at determining the risk of transfusion-transmitted malaria (TTM) from student donors. A cross-sectional study was carried out in January 2015 in students living in the town of Douala, Cameroon. 179 students aged between 18 and 32 years were included in the study and their blood tested for the presence of malaria parasites using thick blood films. A questionnaire form was administered to each participant for documenting socio demographical, clinical and malaria-related data. The prevalence of malaria infection among donors was27.54%. 

Overall prevalence of the asymptomatic malaria was 10.17% which accounted for 47.36% of all cases of malaria infection. Mean parasite density was the highest in males, 21-25 years old and bed nets users with 139 ± 346 parasites/μl, 132 ± 341 parasites/μl and 156 ± 476 parasites/μl respectively. None of the factors tested were found to be associated with an increased risk of malaria infection (pvalue> 0.05). Finally This study has highlighted a potential high risk of TTM from student donors. In many endemic areas malaria diagnosis is overlooked thus increasing the risk of TTM and constraining its appraisal.  Read more....................

A One-Stop Novel Drug for Malaria Treatment and Control

Malaria is a primordial disease that has been affecting human race since their origin. Albeit the parasite shows parallel divergence with hominids, it has evolved so finely and shaped its genome to a great extent to invade, dodge and damage hosts defence system. Small generation time, pressure to survive and grow under adverse environmental conditions inside host, ability to disguise and escape host immune system; help the parasite to succeed the evolutionary arms race. Hence, malaria associated morbidity and mortality is a major public healthconcern especially for underdeveloped and developing countries of the globe.Though many malaria control and eradication strategies have been followed since ages, but none of them are successful in an overall control program. In the absence of a competent vaccine for malaria prevention and at the same time emerging resistance against currently available antimalarials, the ongoing malaria control programs have been severely hampered.

Besides that, cross resistance among drugs due to their alike chemical combination is also well evidenced . As a result of which, the current malaria control program has been adversely affected by the development and spread of parasite resistant strains to the working antimalarial, ACT (Artemisinin-based Combination Therapy). Therefore, the need of the hour is to develop a drug not only that has a quick and deep action in the parasite, but also by delaying the emergence of drug resistance. Bearing these facts in mind, Baragana and co-workers5 have recently designed a multiple stage antimalarial compound, which not only can treat malaria with single dose but also help in chemo-protection and blockage of transmission with less chance of development of resistance by the parasite.To initiate the process of development of such a compound, the scientific team  searched the chemical compound library at drug discovery unit (DDU) of University of Dundee that consists of around 4700 compounds and screened against blood stage asexual forms of the deadliest malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum 3D7 strain. Read more...........

Challenges in the Management of Malaria in Nigeria: A Healthcare System Preview

Malaria remains a huge global health burden with more than 90% of fatalities occurs in Africa and about half a million infant mortality each year. Malarial infection is of particular concern as it is a disease that can be both treated and prevented. Nigeria, biggest country by population in Africa, is responsible for about 25% of global health burden. While all local and international efforts aim to implement Nigeria’s current National Strategic Malaria Plan [NMSP 2014-2020] to have Nigeria free of Malaria by 2020, the current healthcaresystem in Nigeria remains a major system bottleneck to achieving such challenging objective but yet still achievable.

This report on Nigeria’s current malaria situation aims to highlight healthcare system challenges that face Nigeria as a country, and possible plans that integrate both local and international initiatives to reach 2020 with a malaria-free country.The studies used in this review were retrieved from CINAHL Plus, MEDLINE, ProQuest and PUBMED databases focusing on Malaria and healthcare challenges in Nigeria. Google scholar was used on one occasion to obtain one full-text article

Global Malaria Facts and Overview:

Malaria is a life-threatening disease that can be both prevented and treated which can dramatically reduce the burden of disease in the globe. There are about 3.2 billion people around the world at risk of infection, approximately half of the total world population, and about half a million people died in 2015 worldwide due to malaria infection .A comparison of incomes in a malarial versus non-malarial countries shows that income is five times higher in non-malarial countries. Where malaria infection flourishes, poverty and poor health outcome exist. Malaria-endemic countries have an impeding economic growth and development by both direct and indirect way such as productivity, healthcare cost, and infant mortality.Read more.....