Prevalence of anemia and deficiencies of iron, folic acid and vitamin B12 in an indigenous community from the Venezuelan Amazon with a high incidence of malaria.

The objective of this work was to determine the prevalence of anemia and deficiencies of iron, folic acid and vitamin B12 in Betania del Topocho, a Piaroa community from Estado Amazonas, Venezuela, a zone with a high incidence of malaria. The group studied included 184 subjects of all ages that assisted to the local health center for malaria diagnosis. Analysis performed included hematology by coulter counter, ferritin quantification by ELISA with monoclonal antibodies and folic acid and vitamin B12 determinations by an immunoradiometric assay. It was found that the prevalence of anemia was 89.6% and deficiencies of iron, folic acid and vitamin B12 affected 37.1,70.3 and 12.4% of the population studied, respectively. Plasmodium infection was detected by molecular diagnosis in 53.2% of the cases, and 86% of them were anemic. The highest incidence of anemia was found in children, with a prevalence of 100% in infants of both sexes. The high prevalence of anemia, iron and folic acid deficiencies found, indicates an important health and nutrition problem that should be immediately and properly addressed. The number of cases of anemia due to iron deficiency could be underestimated, since ferritin concentration increased as a acute phase protein, although prevalence data was also analyzed with a cutoff point of 30 microg/L for ferritin concentration.