Prevalence, density and predictors of malaria parasitaemia among ill young Nigerian infants

infants in the first six months of life are relatively protected from malaria. Emerging reports from endemic regions however are showing increasing malaria susceptibility in this age group. This study set out to determine the prevalence, parasite density and predictive factors for malaria parasitaemia in ill young infants at the Wesley Guild Hospital (WGH), Ilesa, Nigeria. ill infants aged one to six months were consecutively recruited over an 11-month period in a hospital based cross-sectional study. History of illness, sociodemographic and perinatal history were obtained; clinical examination and results of venous blood for thick and thin film malaria parasite examinations were recorded and analyzed. the mean (SD) age of the 350 infants was 3.4 (1.6) months with male: female (M: F) of 1.2: 1. The prevalence of malaria parasitaemia (all plasmodium falciparum) was 19.1% while parasite density ranged from 24.0 to 400,000 parasites/µl, median (IQR) 900 (250-4,588)/µl. Sixteen (4.6%) had heavy malaria parasitaemia (>5000/µl). Low social class (OR=2.457; 95%CI 1.404-4.300; p=0.002), suboptimal antenatal care (OR=2.226; 95%CI 1.096-4.522; p=0.027), low birth weight infants (OR=4.818; 95%CI 2.317-10.018; p=