Background. Malaria is known to cause severe health consequences due to its marked effects and alteration on the haematological\nparameters of infected individuals. This study evaluated the haematological profile of adult individuals infected with the malaria\nparasite. Methods. A retrospective study was conducted using archived data of malaria positive cases from January 2017 to March\n15, 2019. Data retrieved included subjectsâ?? demographics, malaria parasite count, malaria parasite species, and full blood count\nparameters. A total of 236 malaria positive subjects were included in the study. Results. The study showed that more females were\ninfected with the malaria parasite than males (69.07% and 30.93%, respectively). A total of 87.3% of the study population were\ninfected with Plasmodium falciparum as compared to 12.7% infected with Plasmodium malariae. The commonest haematological\nabnormalities that were seen in this study were lymphopenia (56.78%), anaemia (55.51%), thrombocytopenia (47.46%), eosinopenia\n(45.76%), neutropenia (29.24%), monocytosis (21.19%), and leucocytosis (17.37%) in the infected subjects. The mean\nplatelet count of P. falciparum-infected subjects was decreased as compared to the mean platelet count of P. malariae-infected\nsubjects. There was a significant (P value <0.05) decrease in the number of platelet count with every unit increase in parasite\ndensity. Conclusion. Study participants infected with malaria demonstrated vital changes in haematological parameters with\nanaemia, thrombocytopenia, lymphopenia, monocytosis, and eosinopenia being the most important predictors of malaria infection\nespecially with P. falciparum species.
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