Introduction: Maternal mortality is high in developing countries, but there are few data in high-risk groups such as migrants and refugees in malaria-endemic areas. Trends in maternal mortality were followed over 25 years in antenatal clinics prospectively established in an area with low seasonal transmission on the north-western border of Thailand.
Methods And Findings: All medical records from women who attended the Shoklo Malaria Research Unit antenatal clinics from 12(th) May 1986 to 31(st) December 2010 were reviewed, and maternal death records were analyzed for causality.
Populations living in endemic malaria areas maybe exposed simultaneously to DDT and malaria infection. DDT may impair status of vitamins, which are implicated in the immunity and pathophysiology of malaria. To explore possible interactions, DDT residues, retinol, alpha-tocopherol, beta-carotene and cholesterol were measured in plasma samples of malaria-infected pregnant women (cases, n=50) and age matched malaria-free controls (n=58).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: There is no safe, practical, and effective treatment for pregnant women infected with multidrug-resistant Plasmodium falciparum.
Methods: We recruited pregnant Karen women in the second or third trimesters of pregnancy who had uncomplicated falciparum malaria for a randomized, open-label trial with a restricted sequential trial design of 7 days of supervised quinine (SQ7) versus 3 days of artesunate-atovaquone-proguanil (AAP).
Results: Eight-one pregnant women entered the study between December 2001 and July 2003; 42 were treated with SQ7 and 39 were treated with AAP.
Nutritional deficiency and malaria are 2 major causes of anaemia during pregnancy in tropical areas. The relationship between anaemia, its treatment with iron and folate, and malaria was studied in a prospective cohort of 2112 pregnant Karen women on the north-western border of Thailand between 1993 and 1997. The development of Plasmodium vivax malaria was associated with a past mean haematocrit > 30% (hazard ratio = 1.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPlacental histopathology was studied in a cohort of 204 women living in an area of low Plasmodium falciparum and P. vivax malaria transmission. Detection of malaria antenatally was active, by weekly peripheral blood smears, and all infections were treated.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBoth Plasmodium vivax and P. falciparum malaria can cause the delivery of low birthweight babies. In this report, we have quantitated haemozoin levels in placentas from women living on the Thai-Burmese border in a region of low transmission for both P.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFQuinine (n = 246) was used to treat uncomplicated Plasmodium falciparum and chloroquine (n = 130) was used to treat P. vivax, in a total of 376 episodes of malaria in the first trimester of pregnancy, in 300 Karen women (Thailand, 1995-2000). Parasites were still present on day 6 or 7 in 4.
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