SEROPREVALENCE OF IMMUNOGLOBULIN IgG ANTIBODY RESPONSE TO PLASMODIUM FALCIPARUM MEROZOITE ANTIGENS AMONG CHILDREN IN MINNA, NORTH CENTRAL, NIGERIA

Abstract

Introduction: Malaria is still a major cause of severe illness which is responsible for millions of deaths, mostly in children under 5 years old. A major problem to malaria vaccine production is the identification of protective epitopes and respective protective antibody. Objective: A cross-sectional study was carried out in a representative cohort of children in Minna aged 6 months–17 years to determine the correlation between immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibody responses to Plasmodium falciparum merozoite antigens. Methods: Plasma samples from 93 children were exposed to Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay for the measurement of IgG antibody production against P. falciparum. Results: There was a high seroprevalence of IgG antibody against P. falciparum antigens tested with 74.20%. The seroprevalence for the male category was quite higher as compared with that of the female category, though, analysis using Mann–Whitney U-test revealed IgG antibody response to P. falciparum infection in the male was significantly different as compared to the female category (p<0.05). Furthermore, the prevalence of IgG antibody against P. falciparum antigen increased with age, with the lowest observed in 6 months–5 years 66.66%. Kruskal–Wallis H test showed a non-significant difference in the production of IgG antibody against P. falciparum antigen between different cohorts, and no correlation exists between them (p>0.05). An evidence of more than 50% was found for the production of IgG antibody by sub-microscopic parasite. On the other hand, microscopically positive P. falciparum samples recorded more seroprevalence of 68.81% as against negative samples, though a significant difference between the negative and positive P. falciparum infected samples and the production of IgG antibody was not observed (p>0.05). Conclusion: This study has demonstrated boosting immune responses by the sub-microscopic parasite and also suggests a strong relationship between the production of IgG antibody and malaria transmission, rather than protective immunity.