The effect of maternal, umbilical cord and placental malaria parasitaemia on the birthweight of newborns from South-western Cameroon.

Aim: The impact of maternal, umbilical cord and placental malaria parasitaemia on the incidence of low birthweight was investigated in pregnant women reporting for delivery at the Mutengene Maternity Centre, Fako Division, South West Province, Cameroon.

Methods: The malaria parasitaemia status of 770 umbilical cords, parturient women and placental impression smears were determined by light microscopy using blood samples collected between June 1999 and September 2001. The birthweights (BW) of the newborns were recorded soon after delivery.

Malaria infection in pregnancy and its effects on haemoglobin levels in women from a malaria endemic area of Fako Division, South West Province, Cameroon.

Anaemia in pregnancy has been associated with maternal morbidity and mortality and is a risk factor for low birthweight. The importance of malaria as a major cause of anaemia in pregnancy in malaria endemic areas has not been fully elucidated. In two cross-sectional studies of pregnant women at antenatal enrolment and at delivery, we determined the prevalence of anaemia and assessed some risk factors associated with anaemia such as malaria parasitaemia and parity, in women from a malaria endemic area of south western Cameroon.

Plasmodium falciparum inhibitory capacities of paired maternal-cord sera from south-west province, Cameroon.

In malaria endemic areas, young children are protected against malaria attack during the first few weeks of life partially by transplacentally acquired antibodies. In this study, we show, using an in vitro assay, that part of these antibodies are involved with blocking the re-invasion of host red blood cells by erythrocytic merozoites. One hundred consecutive paired maternal-cord blood samples were collected at delivery and their plasma assayed for total IgG antibodies against crude blood stage antigens by the ELISA.