Table 1.
Parasitological, demographic and epidemiological characteristics of the women whose peripheral and cord blood samples were assessed for cytokine and chemokine secretion following cell stimulation with Plasmodium falciparum lysate
| Peripheral blood samples (n = 172) | Cord blood samples (n = 174) | |
|---|---|---|
| Placental infection | 35 (20.3)a | 35 (20.1) |
| Peripheral infection | 31 (18) | 30 (17.2) |
| Cord infection | 6 (3.5) | 6 (3.4) |
| Placental inflammation | 9 (5.2) | 9 (5.2) |
| Age | ||
| 15–20 | 60 (34.8) | 61 (35.5) |
| 20–25 | 48 (27.9) | 48 (27.6) |
| > 25 | 64 (37.2) | 65 (37.8) |
| Parity | ||
| Primigravidae | 48 (27.9) | 47 (27) |
| Neighbourhood | ||
| 1 | 75 (43.6) | 76 (43.7) |
| 2 | 97 (56.4) | 98 (56.3) |
| ITN use | 21 (12.2) | 20 (11.5) |
| IRS use | 81 (47.1) | 86 (49.4) |
| Season | ||
| Dry | 77 (44.8) | 77 (44.2) |
| Child group | ||
| Control | 61 (35.4) | 58 (33.3) |
| Late exposure | 51 (29.6) | 55 (31.6) |
| Early exposure | 60 (34.8) | 61 (35.0) |
Numbers and percentages (in parenthesis) are shown
Parasite densities (geometric mean, 95% CI) in infected women were: peripheral microscopy (n = 13) 41,364, 1585–81,144; peripheral qPCR (n = 29) 0.98, 0.28–3.43; placental parasitaemia 5.76, 0.73–45.42; cord qPCR 0.05, 0.01–0.15
The combination between peripheral malaria vs placental malaria vs congenital malaria vs placental inflammation is shown in Additional file 1
ITN insecticide-treated net, IRS indoor residual spraying
aBy histology: 3 acute infections, 1 chronic infection, 31 past infections