Moderate-to-severe anaemia due to afebrile Plasmodium falciparum infection in children aged 6-23 months from the rural district of Kongoussi, Burkina Faso.

A population-based cross-sectional study was conducted to investigate the association of haemoglobin concentration and moderate-to-severe anaemia with afebrile Plasmodium falciparum (PF) infection in 456 rural children aged 6-23 months. Capillary blood was obtained for haemoglobin concentration measurement by HemoCue and malaria detection by blood smear microscopy. Anaemia was noted in 444 (97.4%) children with 194 (42.5%) being moderate-to-severe anaemia. PF infection was noted in 240 (52.6%) children with 117 (25.6%) being afebrile and 123 (27.0%) being febrile. Children with afebrile and those with febrile PF infection were more likely to have moderate-to-severe anaemia than children who were PF-free, with odds ratio (95% confidence interval) of 1.86 (1.07-3.23), p = 0.028 and 2.40 (1.29-4.48), p < 0.001, respectively. These results underline the high burden of both anaemia and PF infection in this population. Strategies aiming at controlling malarial anaemia and based on malaria case-treatment should consider both febrile and afebrile PF infection to allow for a better impact.