Merit Research Journal of Microbiology and Biological Sciences (ISSN: 2408-7076) Vol. 10(4) pp. 040-045, August, 2022 Available online http://www.meritresearchjournals.org/mbs/index.htm Copyright © 2022 Author(s) retain the copyright of this article Original Research Article Implication of Malaria on Liver Health Roseanne Adah Okafor 1* , Fyneface Chikadibia Amadi 1 , Benjamin Nnamdi Okolonkwo 1 , Clement Ugochukwu Nyenke 1 and Chukwubike Udoka Okeke 2 Abstract 1 Department of Medical Laboratory Science, PAMO University of Medical Sciences, Port Harcourt, Nigeria 2 Department of Prosthetics and Orthotics, School of Health Technology, Federal University of Technology, Owerri, Imo State, Nigeria. *Corresponding Author's E-mail: aokafor@pums.edu.ng Malaria is the commonest disease in Africa and some Asian countries with a global prevalence of 0.3-2.2%. Malarial infection has multi-organ complications and the liver is not an exception. It has been reported that the plasma concentrations of liver enzymes, bilirubin, protein and albumin are altered during malarial infection in children. In this study, 1000 children within the age bracket of 1 to 10 years attending Palmars Hospital, Omega Children Hospital, Braithewait Memorial Specialist Hospital, and some primary and secondary schools, all in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, were randomly selected and screened for malaria and hepatitis infections, 694 subjects with malaria infection but free of hepatitis were taken as test group while 306 free of both malarial and hepatitis infections were grouped as control. Venous blood samples were obtained from all the subjects for the determination of plasma liver enzymes, protein and albumin. Statistical analysis using ANOVA showed significantly higher concentrations of liver enzymes and bilirubin (p< 0.05) of the test group when compared with those of the control group while the concentrations of protein and albumin of the control group were significantly higher than those of the test group. This study has shown that people with malaria may also present with liver damage. It is therefore necessary to assess liver function especially in people with severe malaria. Keywords: Malaria, Liver function parameters INTRODUCTION Malaria is the commonest disease in Africa as well as some Asian countries with a global prevalent range of 0.3-2.2%, however, in cases of its severe form as seen in regions of tropical climate, the range is as high as 11- 30% (White et al., 2014). The causative agent of malaria is a protozoon of the Plasmodium species group comprising Plasmodium falciparum, Plasmodium vivax, Plasmodium ovale, Plasmodium malariae and Plasmodium knowlesi (White et al., 2014; Walker et al., 2017). Malaria has remained a public health concern due to its increasing morbidity and mortality rates in developing countries as well as the challenge of antimalarial resistance (Jain et al., 2016). In fact, in 2015, there were total estimates of about 212 million cases of malaria and 429,000 related deaths globally (WHO, 2018). Malarial infection has multi-organ complications and the liver is not an exception (Mehta, 2018). Hepatic abnormalities of malarial origin have been described with the concept of "malarial hepatopathy", defined as "a bilirubin level >2.5 of the upper limit of normal with aminotransferase elevation of > 3 times the upper limit of normal, taking alanine aminotransferase as the more liver-specific enzyme (Saya et al., 2012, Fazil et al., 2013; Jain et al., 2016). However, irrespective of the levels of the hepatic parameters observed due to malarial infection, it has been generally reported that malaria has the potential to compromise hepatic functions through its effects on some biochemical parameters of the liver, also causing histopathological findings like Kupffer cell hyperplasia, hemozoin loading and monocytic infiltration are commonly reported (Kachawaha et al., 2003, McCarthy et al., 2016). Although abnormalities in liver