The impact of HIV-associated immunosuppression on the Plasmodium falciparum chloroquine resistance transporter gene (PfCRT) of HIV patients in Akure, Nigeria

Background The study evaluated the prevalence of malaria and Plasmodium falciparum chloroquine resistance transporter gene (PfCRT) in HIV patients attending Specialist Hospital, Akure. This study was carried out between April and June 2019. Three hundred and seventeen (317) patients attending the antiretroviral clinic (ART) were involved, out of which 89 (28.08%) were males and 228 (71.92%) were females. HIV test was done using the Unigold® HIV test kit, malaria test was done using thick and thin blood smear, CD4 test was done using the Partec® CD4 counter and PCR was used to detect the presence of plasmodium falciparum mutant gene. The data obtained from this analysis was subjected to Pearson’s Chi-square test. Results The overall result showed low prevalence of malaria (23.03%) in the sampled patients. Highest malaria prevalence (31.0%) was recorded in HIV patients with CD4 count between 200–500 cells/μl of blood, with the males recording 24.7% malaria prevalence. The age group 20–29 years recorded the highest prevalence of 27.3%. A higher prevalence 91.1% of PfCRT gene in HIV-positive and (40.0%) in HIV-negative patients was recorded with 100% prevalence in patients with CD4 count ≤ 200. This shows that the low prevalence of malaria recorded in this study could be credited to good health-seeking attitude of HIV patients and the upscale of HIV care and treatment centres. Conclusion The high prevalence of PfCRT gene shows that treatment of malaria with chloroquine is still being practised despite the availability of artemisinin-based combination therapy (ACTs) as the recommended regimen for malaria treatment.