Prevalence of Plasmodium and Salmonella Infections among Pregnant Women with Fever, Presented to Three Hospitals in Ogun and Lagos State, South-West Nigeria

Aims: The study was undertaken to establish prevalence of plasmodium and salmonella infections among pregnant women manifesting fever, presented to three hospitals in Lagos and Ogun state, Nigeria. To determine the rate of co-infection with respect to the use of widal test and stool culture as diagnostic tools for typhoid fever and To characterize and Identify the S. typhi isolates associated with co-infection.

Study Design: This research is Cross sectional. Pregnant women who were manifesting fever presented to two hospitals in Ogun State and Lagos State, Nigeria were tested by two diagnostic methods each for Plasmodium and Salmonella infections. Place and Duration of Study: Covenant university Canaan Land, Microbiology Laboratory between October 2012 and June 2013.

Methodology: Three hundred and fifty pregnant women who came to the hospitals with clinical signs including fever were selected by random sampling. They were tested for plasmodium infection and for salmonella infections. For plasmodium, the lateral flow test cassettes were used to test for the different species. The blood smears were also viewed microscopically while for salmonella infections both Widal test and culture of stools were used.

Results: Of the 350 samples, 10(3%) tested positive for plasmodium. 6(2%) were positive for salmonella while 5(1%) women had both plasmodium and salmonella infections. All the 10 cases of plasmodium infections were caused by P. falciparum and all the 6 cases of salmonella infections were due to S. typhi. Fifty healthy pregnant women screened by same methods as controls were negative for both plasmodium and for salmonella.

Conclusion: Infection by P. falciparum and S. typhi and their co-infection are among causes of fever in pregnant women in Nigeria.