Research Article Impact of Submicroscopic Plasmodium falciparum Parasitaemia on Maternal Anaemia and Low Birth Weight in Blue Nile State, Sudan Samia A. Omer, 1 Ali N. Noureldein , 2 Hadeel Eisa, 1 Mutasim Abdelrahim, 3 Hagir E. Idress, 4 Abdelrahim M. Abdelrazig, 5 and Ishag Adam 2 1 Department of Immunology and Molecular Biology, Tropical Medicine Research Institute, National Centre for Research, Khartoum, Sudan 2 Faculty of Medicine, University of Khartoum, Khartoum, Sudan 3 Ed-Damazin Hospital, Blue Nile State Ministry of Health, Ed-Damazin, Sudan 4 School of Biomedical Sciences, Middlesex University, London, UK 5 Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, Blue Nile University, Ad-Damazīn, Sudan Correspondence should be addressed to Ali N. Noureldein; alinour2000@hotmail.com Received 29 March 2019; Revised 20 June 2019; Accepted 15 July 2019; Published 7 August 2019 Academic Editor: Sukla Biswas Copyright©2019SamiaA.Omeretal.isisanopenaccessarticledistributedundertheCreativeCommonsAttributionLicense, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. e aim of the present study was to investigate the prevalence of submicroscopic infections and to assess its impact on maternal anaemia and low birth weight. A cross-sectional study was carried out with 1149 consented pregnant women who delivered at 3 main hospitals in the Blue Nile State, between January 2012 and December 2015. From a matched maternal peripheral, placental maternal side, and cord blood sample, blood films and dried spots were prepared for microscopic examination and nested polymerase chain reaction (n-PCR), respectively. 107 out of 447 negative blood films were found to have submicroscopic infection detected using n-PCR in any of the three compartments. Placental samples had a significantly higher prevalence (142) of submicroscopic infections compared with the peripheral (6.5%) and cord (8.1%) samples. e mean (SD) of the maternal haemoglobin (Hb) was significantly lower in cases with submicroscopic parasitaemia (10.9 (0.8) vs. 12.1 (0.7)g/dl, P < 0.001) compared with those who had no submicroscopic parasitaemia. Submicroscopic malaria infection was associated with anaemia (OR 19.7, (95% CI, 10.3–37.8)). irty-eight babies born to women with submicroscopic infections were low birth weight (LBW) and was significantly lower in submicroscopic parasitaemia (2.663 (0.235) vs. 2.926 (0.341)kg, P < 0.001). Submicroscopic malaria infection was associated with LBW (OR � 2.7, (95% CI, 1.2–5.6)). ere is a high incidence of submicroscopic infections in any of the three compartments regardless of age or parity. Submicroscopic infection is a risk of maternal anaemia and low birth weight in women in this area of high seasonal malaria transmission. 1. Introduction Each year, 50 million women living in malaria-endemic areas become pregnant; in 2015, an estimated 28 million pregnant women were at risk of malaria in the sub-Saharan Africa [1]. Pregnant women are particularly vulnerable to malaria infection, which increases the risk of poor maternal and newborn outcomes including severe maternal anaemia, maternal death, spontaneous abortion, low birth weight, and newborn and infants deaths [2–4]. e placenta provides an ideal environment for the sequestration of parasite-infected red blood cells that adhere to the adhesion molecule Chondroitin sulfate A (CSA) re- ceptors in the placental syncytiotrophoblast with the parasite ligand VAR2CSA [5, 6]. Molecular detection methods of Plasmodium, particularly the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method, have been shown to be significantly more sensitive in detecting low-level parasitaemia than the standard diagnostic method of thick blood film microscopy in both peripheral blood and placental blood [7–9]. Hindawi Journal of Tropical Medicine Volume 2019, Article ID 3162378, 7 pages https://doi.org/10.1155/2019/3162378