Abstract
This study was undertaken to assess the effect of artemether treatment on plasma lipid profile in malaria infection. While the importance of lipid to plasmodial infective processes and metabolism is being increasingly appreciated, little is known about the attendant effect of chemotherapy on plasma lipid profile. Thirty patients with uncomplicated malaria were chosen from two secondary health-care facilities in Yobe State, Nigeria with informed consents and ethical clearance. Based on predetermined inclusion criteria patients were given 3.2 mg/kg of artemether with 1.6 mg/kg on subsequent days for a total of five days. This was done after the collection of urine and blood samples for urinalysis, malaria parasite density count and serum lipid analysis. A follow-up was planned seven (7) days from first dose during when clinical assessment and repeat malaria parasite density count and serum lipid analysis were done. Data were analyzed with statistical package for social scientist and Microsoft Excel spread sheet while level of significance at p ≤ 0.05 was calculated using paired t-test. Serum HDL cholesterol concentration recorded a significant decline of 0.13 mmol/L from a pre-treatment mean concentration of 1.17 mmol/L (p provide a more compelling result.
Highlights
Malaria is an acute febrile illness caused by haemoprotozoal organisms of the phylum Apicomplexa and genus Plasmodium
P. knowlesi which is evolutionary related to human forms has been implicated in naturally acquired symptomatic malaria in a 39-year-old Thai man [4]
Positive sign to a percentage change denotes decrease of post-treatment value from pre-treatment value and a negative sign denotes an increase from the pre-treatment value
Summary
Malaria is an acute febrile illness caused by haemoprotozoal organisms of the phylum Apicomplexa and genus Plasmodium. Though as early as the Hippocratic era malaria was clearly identified with marshes, it was not until the late nineteenth century that Ross identified mosquito as the vector [2] and Charles Louis Alphonse Laveran showed plasmodium to be the pathogen [3]. Numerous plasmodial species have been identified that naturally infect a variety of animals, only four are pathogenic to man. These are Plasmodium falciparum (P. falciparum)—the most pathogenic and the cause of most complications of malaria, Plasmodium vivax (P. vivax), Plasmodium ovale (P. ovale) and Plasmodium malariae (P. malariae). P. knowlesi which is evolutionary related to human forms has been implicated in naturally acquired symptomatic malaria in a 39-year-old Thai man [4]
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