Congenital Malaria among inborn babies at a tertiary centre in Lagos, Nigeria

Congenital malaria is increasingly reported among babies born to mothers continually residing in endemic areas. Given the high morbidity and mortality associated with malaria it is pertinent to determine its current status among newborns in Lagos, Nigeria. The aim was to determine the incidence of congenital malaria in newborn babies delivered at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital and also to determine the frequency of parasitaemia in their mothers and placentae. A cross-sectional study of mothers attending the antenatal clinic of the Lagos University Teaching Hospital was done. The Sociodemographic and clinical characteristics of mothers were documented. Samples of maternal, placental, cord and neonatal blood were taken and stained with Giemsa and examined for malaria parasites. Neonatal samples were examined at birth, on days 3, 7, 14 and 28. One hundred mothers and their placentae, as well as 104 babies and their cord blood were studied. The incidence of congenital malaria was 16/104 (15.3%) and parasite counts ranged from 47 to 1019/mu l. Plasmodium falciparum was the predominant specie. There was a strong association between placental, maternal, cord and neonatal parasitaemia. All the babies with congenital malaria had infected mothers, placentae and cords (p < 0.0001). In conclusion congenital malaria is not uncommon in Lagos nowadays, and there are relatively high rates of maternal, placental and cord blood parasitaemia. It is, therefore, recommended that babies born to mothers with malaria should be screened for congenital malaria.