The prevalence of malaria parasitaemia in blood donors in a Nigerian teaching hospital.

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVES The present study was undertaken to assess the prevalence of malaria parasitaemia among blood donors and to determine the possible risk of transmission of malaria parasite to recipients of blood in Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital, Nnewi, Anambra State. METHODS Four hundred and forty-four subjects were selected randomly and EDTA added blood was collected for screening malaria parasites using Giemsa stain. The data were subjected to chi2 analysis. RESULTS Prevalence of malaria was 30.2% among blood donors and showed bimodal distribution with significant variation in different months. INTERPRETATION & CONCLUSION Due to high prevalence of asymptomatic malaria parasitaemia in this region, all blood samples should be screened for malaria parasites (post-donor screening) and administered with a curative dose of antimalarials prophylactically to all patients transfused with malaria parasite positive blood.