Abstract
Malaria, syphilis and Hepatitis B during pregnancy are detrimental to the life of the pregnant women and the foetus. In this study, we documented the prevalence of the three diseases among pregnant women attending a selected Comprehensive Health Care center in Osogbo, Nigeria using serological kits. Of the 200 participants consented to participate in the study, 26 (13%) were positive for malaria while 6 (3%) were positive for Hapatitis B Virus (HBV). The co-infection of malaria and HBV was found only in two participants (1%) while none of the participants was positive for syphilis. There was no significant difference in the prevalence of malaria and Hepatitis B in relation to age (p > 0.05). All the participants had good knowledge that mosquitoes transmit malaria but only 29 (14.5%) claimed to be sleeping under insecticide treated bed-net. About 169 (84.5%) relied solely on insecticide spray of the room and 2 (1%) did not practice any mosquito control measures. The results may suggest the low prevalence of malaria, Hepatitis B virus and syphilis at the study area. However, early surveillance and adequate public health education will be immeasurable in safe-guiding the pregnant women from the detrimental effects of these infections. Key words: Malaria, syphilis, hepatitis B virus, pregnant women, co-infection, Nigeria.
Highlights
Malaria is of considerable public health problem in Africa, with pregnant women and children under five bearing the major burden of the infection
None of the 200 participants screened was positive for syphilis
The questionnaire survey showed that only little proportion of the study participants (5%) previously had sexually transmitted infections (STIs)
Summary
Malaria is of considerable public health problem in Africa, with pregnant women and children under five bearing the major burden of the infection. Plasmodium falciparum, the predominant and most virulent malaria species in Nigeria has been identified as major cause of low birth weight, still births, spontaneous abortion or death of the susceptible pregnant women (Idowu et al, 2006). The complications of malaria, syphilis and hepatitis B are more pronounced among immune-compromised patients such as pregnant women and HIV infected individuals. These three infectious diseases cause similar adverse pregnancy outcomes which include spontaneous abortion, still birth or death of the pregnant women (Shafer and Moscick, 2006; Olokoba et al, 2008). This study, presents the results of sero-prevalence of malaria, hepatitis B virus and syphilis conducted among pregnant women attending selected primary health facilities in Osogbo, Southwest, Nigeria
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