The prevalence of Plasmodia parasitaemia among donors in the Niger delta of Nigeria.

Giemsa-stained blood films from 1018 consecutively recruited blood donors was examined quantitatively for plasmodium species to determine the prevalence of transfusion-transmissible malaria among blood donors. The overall prevalence rate was 104 (10.2%). Infection rate was highest among donors aged 10-19 years (16.7%) and was significantly higher among commercially remunerated donors (17.8%) compared with family replacement donors (4.8%) (chi(2) = 45.19; P < 0.001). Pre-donation mean haemoglobin value was significantly lower among malaria-parasitized donors and commercial donors (12.3+/-0.30 and 12.63+/-0.57 g/dL) compared with non-parasitized and family replacement donors (13.5+/-1.01 and 13.9+/-0.96 g/dL) (chi(2) = 143.88; P = 0.001) and (chi(2) = 392.7; P = 0.001), respectively. This study confirms a high prevalence of transfusion-transmissible malaria among blood donors and lays bare the need to routinely treat transfusion recipient with anti-malaria as a prophylactic measure.