Vol. 7, Issue 3, Part A (2020)

Author(s): Sale M, Pukuma MS, Adedeji BAM and Shehu A

Abstract: Enteric and Malaria fevers with their high morbidity and mortality figures are still major public health problems especially in sub-Saharan Africa. It is common place today to see patients being concurrently treated for the two diseases. This study was undertaken to determine the coinfection status of malaria and typhoid fever in the study area. Two hundred persons were recruited for this study; blood samples obtained from the respondents were screened for malaria parasites by microscopy and RDT while slide and tube widal tests were used to screen for typhoid fever. Results showed that 111 (55.5%) were positive for malaria, 78 (39%) were positive for Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi, while 45 (22.5%) of the study subjects were positive for both typhoid and malaria. The occurrence of typhoid- malaria coinfection from this study was 22.5% with 51.1% of the confection occurring among males. Among the males, the highest coinfection was observed among age groups ≤ 10 years (80%) although this difference was not significant at p=0.05. The most common agents of malaria and typhoid fever in this study were P. falciparum (88.3%) and Salmonella Typhi (64.1%). The malaria and typhoid fever coinfection rate observed in this study is not as high as it is being projected to justify concurrent treatment with antimalarial and antibiotics. It also underscores the need for laboratory testing of suspected cases to increase precision in treatment and prevent the emergence of resistance by pathogens.