Nweneka C V, Eneh A U
University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital, Port Harcourt, Nigeria.
J Trop Pediatr. 2004 Apr;50(2):114-6. doi: 10.1093/tropej/50.2.114.
Malaria is thought to be rare among neonates in malaria-endemic regions. Consequently, blood film for malaria parasite is not routinely included in the sepsis screening protocol for neonates. We examined the role of malaria in perinatal morbidity among neonates admitted into our unit with a view to determining the need or otherwise of including malaria parasitaemia in the sepsis work-up in suspected neonatal septicaemia. Fourteen babies who met our preset criteria were screened for malaria parasitaemia out of which five (35.71 per cent) had positive blood smears for Plasmodium falciparum. Eighty per cent of the neonates presenting with fever had positive blood films (Yates corrected chi2 = 3.9822; p = 0.04). All the babies responded to an oral course of chloroquine. These data have further highlighted the importance of malaria in perinatal morbidity in our environment. We recommend a multi-centred study to define clearly the role of malaria in perinatal and neonatal morbidity and mortality in malaria endemic areas.
在疟疾流行地区，新生儿患疟疾被认为较为罕见。因此，新生儿败血症筛查方案中通常不包括疟原虫血片检查。我们研究了疟疾在入住我科的新生儿围产期发病中的作用，以确定在疑似新生儿败血症的检查中是否需要进行疟原虫血症检查。对符合我们预设标准的14名婴儿进行了疟原虫血症筛查，其中5名（35.71%）恶性疟原虫血涂片呈阳性。出现发热的新生儿中80%血片呈阳性（耶茨校正卡方 = 3.9822；p = 0.04）。所有婴儿对口服氯喹疗程均有反应。这些数据进一步凸显了疟疾在我们所处环境中围产期发病中的重要性。我们建议开展一项多中心研究，以明确界定疟疾在疟疾流行地区围产期及新生儿发病和死亡中的作用。
