Congenital malaria in a hyperendemic area: a revisit

Screening of 104 mother-baby pairs for P. falciparum malaria revealed that 29% of mothers from low socio-economic group and 11% of their babies had malaria parasitaemia. The corresponding figures for middle and high socio-economic groups were 15% and 7%, respectively. The parasite densities in the babies were not proportional to maternal load and were generally low, although higher in the low socio-economic group. Maternal pyrimethamine prophylaxis did not appear to protect babies from parasitisation and there was no demonstrable beneficial effect on the babies' birtth-weights.