Abstract
Background: Malaria is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in children in sub-Saharan Africa. Since micronutrients have been implicated in the pathogenicity of Plasmodium falciparum, it is important to ascertain the riboflavin and thiamin status in Nigerian malarous children. Methodology: The P. falciparum parasitaemia was determined by thick blood smear using Giemsa stain. The riboflavin and thiamin status were determined using high performance liquid chromatography. Results⁄ Principal findings: The mean malarial parasitaemia of the 148 malarous children screened was 4707.06 ± 995.53⁄ΜL. The infected children had mean riboflavin (55.0 ± 2.59 nmol⁄L), flavin mononucleotide, FMN (29.1 ± 2.8 nmol⁄L), flavin adeno dinucleotide, FAD (213.3 ± 12.43 nmol⁄L) and thiamin (0.08 ± 0.03 nmol⁄L). The control subjects had higher mean riboflavin (108.8 ± 10.2 nmol⁄L), FMN (102.8 ± 3.5 nmol⁄L), FAD (404.9 ± 8.7 nmol⁄L) and thiamin (2.04 ± 0.39). These differences between the control and the infected children for mean riboflavin, FMN and FAD were statistically significant (Χ2 = 26.56, p&It;0.05; Χ2 = 52.83, p&It;0.05; Χ2 = 59.38, p&It;0.05) respectively, but not significant for the mean thiamin (Χ2 = 1.08, p>0.05). The relationship between the malarial parasitaemia and thiamin was positively correlated (r = 0.89). The plasma concentration of riboflavin, FMN and FAD were negatively correlated and statistically significant with the malarial parasitaemia (r = -0.99, p&It;0.05; r = -0.95, p&It;0.05; r = -0.95, p&It;0.05 respectively). Children in the 1-5 age group had a lower concentration of riboflavin (52.8 ± 27.9 nmol⁄L), FMN (191.7 ± 13.3 nmol⁄L) and FAD (27.4 ± 13.2 nmol⁄L) but a higher concentration of thiamin (0.11 ± 0.13). These differences in the levels of riboflavin, FMN, FAD and thiamin between the age groups 1-5 and >6 were not statistically significant (Χ2 = 0.315, p>0.05; Χ2 = 1.045, p>0.05; Χ2 = 1.94, p>0.05, Χ2 = 0.11, p>0.05 respectively). Conclusion: We observed a lower riboflavin and thiamin concentration in Nigerian children with P. falciparum infection than in control subjects, a finding that might reflect the impact of P. falciparum on the serum concentration of these malarous children in our locality.