Indirect fluorescent antibody (IFA) test for malaria in pregnant and non-pregnant women
Sholapurkar, S.L.; Mahajan, R.C.; Gupta, A.N.; Prasad, R.N.
Indian Journal of Malariology 26(1): 61-63
1989
ISSN/ISBN: 0367-8326 PMID: 2680636 Document Number: 343108
Antimalarial antibody titres were detected by IFAT (using Plasmodium knowlesi schizonts as antigen) in 78 pregnant and 22 non-pregnant women who were positive for malaria parasites. Eighty pregnant and 20 non-pregnant Plasmodium-negative women were also studied, as controls. Of the women with malaria, 58 had P. vivax and 42 P. falciparum. Approximately half the pregnant women with malaria were nullipara. There was no significant difference between the percentages of normal pregnant and non-pregnant women with a positive IFAT titre (>= 1:40) (7.5% and 20% respectively) or between the percentages of pregnant and non-pregnant women with malaria who were IFAT positive (83% and 86% respectively). However, when the malaria cases were divided into strongly reactive (IFAT >= 1:160) and weakly reactive (IFAT <= 1:160), there were significantly fewer strongly reactive cases among the pregnant women (40%) than among the non-pregnant women (59%). IFAT titres were not significantly different between nullipara and multipara. IFAT titres were lower in women in the 2nd or 3rd trimester of pregnancy compared to those in the 1st.