Incidence and in vitro susceptibility profile of Plasmodium falciparum isolates to antimalarial agents in Lafia, Nigeria

Malaria burden has been reported to be wide spread worldwide. The level of Plasmodium species resistance to recommended antimalarial drugs has also been reported to be on the increase. Thus It is necessary to monitor antimalarial drugs’ efficacy and the intensity of malaria in Nigeria. This study was designed to determine the incidence of malaria and the susceptibility of Plasmodium falciparum isolates from patients of Dalhatu Araf Specialist Hospital Lafia to reported prescribed Antimalarials in Lafia. A retrospective study was carried out to know the pattern of antimalarial drug prescriptions, age and gender of malaria patients for 2014, 2015 and 2016. The antimalarial susceptibility of Plasmodium falciparum was also carried out by the method used by Peletiri et al., 2012. The observed Malaria prevalence was 5.9%, 4.4% and 4.8% for 2014, 2015 and 2016 respectively. The incidences of malaria among different age groups were 19.07%, 15.86%, and 44.30% for 0-5 years, 6-18 years and 19 years above respectively. Malaria was observed higher in females 58.2%, than male 41.1%. Antimalarial drug prescription was basically Artemisinin combination therapy 88.67%. Out of the 91 Plasmodium falciparum isolates evaluated, 32 (35.16%) were resistant to piperaquine, 26 (28.57%) were resistant to artesunate, 25 (27.00%) were resistant to chloroquine, 16 (17.58%) were resistant to Lumefantrine and 10 (10.99%) were resistant to artemether. This study gives current information on the incidence of reported malaria and antimalarial susceptibility pattern of Plasmodium falciparum Isolates in Lafia Nigeria. Keywords: Plasmodium falciparum, Artesunate, Artemether, Chloroquine, Lumefantrine, Piperaquine.