Diagnosis and Treatment of Malaria in Nigeria

Abstract

There are 241 million malaria cases in 2020 globally based on WHO’s “World Malaria Report 2021”, Nigeria is the hardest hit region. The mechanism of the parasite caused many complications and the two hosts of the transmission. The malaria parasite is transmitted from the salivary glands of the mosquito to the human blood. Once the parasite was transmitted to the human, it can cause a human to human transmission through the contacting with the infected blood. Mainstream diagnostic techniques of Malaria includes Malaria Rapid Diagnostic Testing (RDT) / Histidine-rich Protein 2(HRP2) MRDT/Paracheck-Pf RDT; microscopy; nested PCR (nPCR) ; quantitative PCR (qPCR) . There are also advanced diagnostic technologies such as Loop-mediated Isothermal Amplification (LAMP) and CRISPR-based Diagnostic-using the nucleic acid detection platform Sherlock (specific high-sensitivity enzymatic reporter unlocking) . Nowadays in Nigeria, despite the decreased drug sensitivity against the disease, new methods and drugs have emerged in a bid to control this parasitic infection. The treatment continues to change and more discoveries have been made on how to treat the disease. This paper summarizes the status quo of malaria in Nigeria and provides possible and effective ways for Nigeria to eliminate malaria.