International Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology 2017; 2(4): 161-165 http://www.sciencepublishinggroup.com/j/ijmb doi: 10.11648/j.ijmb.20170204.12 Climate and Plasmodium falciparum Infection on the Jos Plateau, Nigeria Okokon Ita Ita 1, * , Ubong Aniefiok Udoh 1 , Kenneth Ogar Inaku 2 , Anthony Achizie Iwuafor 1 1 Department of Medical Microbiology and Parasitology, University of Calabar, Calabar, Nigeria 2 Department of Chemical Pathology, University of Calabar, Calabar, Nigeria Email address: itaokokonita@unical.edu.ng (O. I. Ita), ubong4dr@yahoo.com (U. A. Udoh), keninaku@yahoo.com (K. O. Inaku), achiton@yahoo.com (A. A. Iwuafor) * Corresponding author To cite this article: Okokon Ita Ita, Ubong Aniefiok Udoh, Kenneth Ogar Inaku, Anthony Achizie Iwuafor. Climate and Plasmodium falciparum Infection on the Jos Plateau, Nigeria. International Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology. Vol. 2, No. 4, 2017, pp. 161-165. doi: 10.11648/j.ijmb.20170204.12 Received: April 10, 2017; Accepted: May 18, 2017; Published: June 30, 2017 Abstract: The occurrence and prevalence of malaria depend on several factors, both climatic and non-climatic. Given that the Jos plateau is more temperate than other parts of Nigeria, this work set out to look at the prevalence of malaria infection on the Jos plateau. Capillary blood samples were collected from 200 febrile patients of both sexes attending the Jos University Teaching Hospital (JUTH), Nigeria from October 2012 to March 2013. Thick and thin films were prepared, stained with 10% giemsa and examined following the procedure recommended by the WHO. A mini review of how climatic factors affect malaria prevalence was also carried out. Two hundred subjects took part in the study. Their ages ranged from one day to 78 years with a mean of 39 years. There were 92 (46%) males and 108 (54%) females with a male to female ratio of approximately 1:1. A total of 30 (15%) of the 200 samples were positive for Plasmodium falciparum by microscopy. The climate of the Jos plateau, Nigeria, does not support a high prevalence of P. falciparum malaria. Therefore, healthcare providers on the Jos plateau should investigate patients for other causes of fever at the same time they are asking for malaria parasite. Keywords: Climate, Malaria, Jos Plateau 1. Introduction Malaria is the most important parasitic disease of man [1]. It affects approximately 5% of the world’s population and causes about 438,000 deaths each year [2]. It is endemic in sub Saharan Africa, Papua New Guinea, Haiti, central and parts of South America, the Middle East, the Indian Subcontinent, South East Asia and Oceania [1]. Where malaria is found depends mainly on climatic factors such as temperature, altitude and rainfall [3]. This is because these factors affect where the Anopheles mosquito survive and multiply and where malaria parasites can complete their growth cycle in the mosquito [3]. In Nigeria, malaria is considered holoendemic [4]. Studies from different parts of the country show high prevalence rates of Plasmodium falciparum infections: 70.6% in Sokoto (North West Nigeria) [5], 74.2% in Abia (South East Nigeria) [6], 81.5% in Ogun (South West Nigeria) [7], 71.4% in Cross River (South South Nigeria) [8] and 88% in Nasarawa (North Central Nigeria) [9]. But malaria transmission is linked to the geography and climate of an area [10, 11], and not every part of the county share the same geographical features. The main ecological zones in Nigeria are the forest zones in the south and the savannah zones in the north [4]. Interspersed in these zones are high altitude and semi temperate areas like the Jos and Mambilla plateaus in the north and the Obudu Mountain in the south. Looking at the occurrence of malaria in different climatic areas of Nigeria will help to identify areas of high and low transmission. This is important because the clinical and epidemiological features of malaria differ in different areas of transmission [12, 13, 3, 14] and this will consequently determine approach to case management and control efforts. This study was carried out to determine the prevalence of P. falciparum malaria on the Jos plateau, given its peculiar climatic characteristics.