Soil-transmitted helminth infections among malaria patients determined by microscopy and real-time PCR methods at two district hospitals in Sarawak, Malaysia
- Author:
Othman, N.
;
Basuni, M.
;
Miswan, N.
;
Noordin, R.
- Publication Type:Journal Article
- From:Tropical Biomedicine
2015;32(4):710-716
- CountryMalaysia
- Language:English
-
Abstract:
Malaria is still endemic in Sarawak and Sabah. Numerous studies have indicated
that patients with malaria are commonly co-infected with helminthes particularly in endemic
regions. The aim of this study was to investigate the incidence of soil-transmitted helminth
(STH) infection among malaria patients using microscopy and multiplex real-time PCR at two
district hospitals in Sarawak. A total of 94 patients who were clinically-suspected to have
malaria were confirmed to be infected by both microscopy and multiplex real-time PCR. By
the molecular method, 23.4%, 74.5% and 2.1% of the samples were positive for Plasmodium
falciparum, P. vivax and mixed P. falciparum and P. vivax, respectively. Among the malaria
patients, 48.9% were found to be co-infected with STHs. In comparison, microscopic
examinations showed that 6.4% of the malaria patients were infected with STHs. From the
real-time PCR positive samples, 31.9% had single helminth infections while 17% had mixed
infections. In conclusion, this study showed that almost half of the malaria patients at the
two Sarawak hospitals were co-infected with helminth. Future studies should be specifically
designed to determine if there is any correlation between the two infections in terms of
incidence and intensity.
- Full text:P020160316491102694776.pdf
