Standard white blood cell count for malaria density estimation: A need for review?

To compare the actual white blood cell (WBC) counts, used to calculate malaria parasite densities against the standard WBC counts of 8000/µl. The WBC counts of 111 Plasmodium falciparum -infected children in north central Nigeria, Aged 1-4 (< 5) and 5-14 (>5) years were estimated in a cross-se...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inAnnals of tropical medicine and public health Vol. 1; no. 1; p. 29
Main Authors Omalu, InnocentC, Oguche, S, Gyang, VP, Akindigh, TM, Egah, DZ, Gokop, B
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Accra Medknow Publications and Media Pvt. Ltd 01.01.2008
Medknow Publications & Media Pvt. Ltd
Subjects
Blood cell count
Diagnosis
Health aspects
Leukocytes
Malaria
Methods
Morbidity
Nigeria
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Summary:To compare the actual white blood cell (WBC) counts, used to calculate malaria parasite densities against the standard WBC counts of 8000/µl. The WBC counts of 111 Plasmodium falciparum -infected children in north central Nigeria, Aged 1-4 (< 5) and 5-14 (>5) years were estimated in a cross-sectional study. These gave average values of 7487/µl and 5985/µl against the assumed standard count of 8000/µl. A comparison of blood samples grouped into those with WBC counts of 8000/µl (3.95% and 8.57%), those below (57.89% and 82.86%) and above (38.16% and 8.57%) showed a significantly higher number in the group below the standard value for the two age groups (X2, df = 3, P > 0.05). This paper draws attention to the disparity between the assumed standard WBC counts and the real values encountered among Nigerian children and proposes a review for achieving more accurate malaria parasite density estimation among other reasons. To best of our knowledge, the present study is the first such report from north central Nigeria.
ISSN:1755-6783
0974-6005
DOI:10.4103/1755-6783.43075