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

ObjectiveMalarial infection among patients on antiretroviral therapy (ART) attending Federal Medical Centre Makurdi, Benue State was investigated between April and August 2008.MethodsA total of 1080 HIV patients were examined (800 on ART and 280 not on ART considered as control). Questionnaire was administered to each participant to collect socio-demographic data. The Cytoflow and Leishman's staining techniques were used to count CD4+ and conduct parasitological examination respectively.ResultsOf the 800 HIV/AIDS patients on ART examined for malaria parasites, 20.5% (164/800) were found positive for malaria infection, while those not on ART had an infection rate of 63.9% (179/280). There was no statistically significant difference of malarial infection between patients not on ART and those on ART (χ2= 14.05, p= 0.0805). The age group 9–15 years recorded the highest infection rate with 55.6% (5/9), while the lowest infection, 15.8% (41/260) was observed in the 30–36 years age group. Malarial infection was higher in patients with CD4+count less than 1073/μL. Females showed higher infection rate (12.6%) than males (7.9%) but with no statistically significant difference (χ2=1.95, P=0.85).ConclusionsIt was observed that ART boosts immunity of HIV/AIDS patients against malarial infection, which indirectly is a possible implication for malaria control.