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Pakistan Journal of Nutrition

Year: 2008 | Volume: 7 | Issue: 5 | Page No.: 620-624
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Authors

Gouado Inocent

Djuidje N. Marceline

Pankoui M.J. Bertrand

Fotso K. Honore

Keywords

In Africa, anaemia associated with malaria infection is a major cause of childhood morbidity and mortality. Problem of severe anemia linked to malaria is increasing as antimalarial drugs resistant parasites are widespread throughout Africa. In Cameroon, malaria turns out to be the major disease with the higher number of annual deaths, especially among children under fives and pregnant women. To assess the iron status among malarial patients in Douala where malaria is endemic, 163 malarial subjects (aged 0 to 60 years) and 98 uninfected volunteer subjects (aged between 0 - 65 years) were screened for this study. Iron status was evaluated using three biochemical (Serum Iron: SI, Total Iron Binding Capacity: TIBC and Transferrin Saturation: TS) and five haematological (Haemoglobin: HGB, Haematocrit: HTC, Mean Cell Volume: MCV, Mean Cell Haemoglobin: MCH and Mean Corpuscular Haemoglobin Concentration: MCHC) parameters. It was observed that 41.7% and 63.20% of malaria patients were serum iron and haemoglobin deficient respectively. Moreover, the rates of SI, TS, HGB, HTC, MCV and MCH were significantly lower in malarial than controls (P<0.01). However, the TIBC rates were significantly higher among the malarial in comparison with the uninfected subjects (P<0.01). This rate decreased with age while HGB, HTC and MCV percentages increased with age. Parasitic density is higher in patients aged between 0 - 3 years than those between 4 - 25 years and between 26 - 60 years of age. We noticed significant (P<0.01) increase of SI with moderate parasitemia. Significant correlations (P<0.001) were observed among malarial. Malaria negatively affects iron status, but we need further research on iron metabolism for the better comprehension of the mechanism by which Plasmodium falciparum interact with iron status.
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