Can a malaria and helminth co-infection increase the chance of anemia?

          Nkuo-Akenji and her colleges investigated the prevalence of anemia in individual infected with intestinal helminthes and Plasmodium farcipirum, or both. The aim was to identify if a coinfection was connected to anemia, and to determine the significant predictors of anemia in the community. Since some parasitic infections together could cause modifications of the specific immune response to each pathogen, there could also be a modification of the clinical expression of each infection (anemia). Children in endemic regions are the most heavily afflicted group (of all 3 illnesses) so the study was done on 425 children under age 14 in Bolifarriba, Cameroon.

            Intestinal helminthes refers to the group of parasitic worms which reside in the latter part of the human digestive system, absorbing nutrients from our diet through their skin. The parasite Plasmodium farcipirum causes Malaria, a disease known to be one of the number one causes of death in underdeveloped tropic areas.

            Blood samples were taken by finger pricks and then stained on a slide, where intensity of malaria parasitemia was counted (severe was >5000/microliter of blood). Packed cell volumes (% of red blood cells in blood) were found to determine if the sample was anemic (normal = 40%, anemic <31%). The quantification of helminthes was done using the Kato-Katz technique on stool samples (egg counts >90th percentile defined heavy infection).

The results demonstrate that high infections of either parasite are likely to lead to high coinfections. Coinfections however, are not more likely to be correlated with anemia. Anemia prevalence increased significantly with high P. falciparum parasite loads, more specifically; children infected exclusively with P. falciparum recorded the highest prevalence of anemia. Their results show that malaria, fever and age can be used as predictors of anemia.

MALARIA AND HELMINTH CO-INFECTION IN CHILDREN LIVING IN A MALARIA ENDEMIC

SETTING OF MOUNT CAMEROON AND PREDICTORS OF ANEMIA

Theresa K. Nkuo-Akenji, Primus C. Chi, Jerome F. Cho, Kenneth K. J. Ndamukong, and Irene Sumbele

Department of Medical Laboratory Science, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Buea, South West Province, Cameroon.