| Popis: |
Malaria parasitemia and haemoglobin variants in patients attending Rivers State University Teaching Hospital, Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria was investigated. Blood samples from 385 patients attending the hospital were collected using sterile syringes into well labelled specimen bottles containing ethylene di-amine tetra acetate (EDTA). The genotype was determined using standard alkaline cellulose acetate electrophoretic technique while standard method was used to determine malaria parasitaemia. Out of the 385 patients examined for haemoglobin variants, the frequency of the genotype was 239(62.1%), 127(33%), 17(4.4%) and 1(0.3%) for HbAA, HbAS, HbSS and HbAC respectively. Malaria parasitemia in HbAA, HbAS, HbSS and HbAC was 170(64.2%), 82(30.9%), 13(4.9%) and 1(0%) respectively. HbAA was significantly (P0.05). Sickle hemoglobin (HbS) gene protection against malaria found in heterozygous hemoglobin (HbAS) was also recorded in patients with homozygous (HbSS) gene. Prevalence of malaria is higher in patients with the normal haemoglobin (HbAA) than in patients with abnormal genes (HbAS and HbSS). |
