Malarial infection among HIV patients on antiretroviral therapy (ART) and not on ART: a case study of Federal Medical Centre Makurdi, Benue State, Nigeria

Objective: Malarial infection among patients on antiretroviral therapy (ART) attending Federal\udMedical Centre Makurdi, Benue State was investigated between April and August 2008. Methods:\udA total of 1080 HIV patients were examined (800 on ART and 280 not on ART considered as control).\udQuestionnaire was administered to each participant to collect socio-demographic data. The\udCytoflow and Leishman ’s staining techniques were used to count CD4+ and conduct parasitological\udexamination respectively. Results: Of the 800 HIV/AIDS patients on ART examined for malaria\udparasites, 20.5% (164/800) were found positive for malaria infection, while those not on ART had\udan infection rate of 63.9% (179/280). There was no statistically significant difference of malarial\udinfection between patients not on ART and those on ART (氈 2= 14.05, p= 0.0805). The age group\ud9-15years recorded the highest infection rate with 55.6% (5/9), while the lowest infection, 15.8%\ud(41/260) was observed in the 30-36 years age group. Malarial infection was higher in patients\udwith CD4+count less than 1073/毺 L. Females showed higher infection rate (12.6%) than males (7.9%)\udbut with no statistically significant difference (氈 2=1.95, P=0.85). Conclusions: It was observed\udthat ART boosts immunity of HIV/AIDS patients against malarial infection, which indirectly is a\udpossible implication for malaria control