Molecular Epidemiological Studies of pfmdr-1 Gene in Plasmodium falciparum Among Undergraduates in A Private University in Lagos State

Background The prevalence of Plasmodium falciparum -resistant parasites remains one of the major challenges to malaria control and eradication in sub-Saharan Africa. Monitoring the molecular markers that confer resistance to various antimalarial drugs is important for tracking the prevalence of resistant parasites and optimizing the therapeutic longevity of current drugs. Morbidity and mortality among students remain quite high despite the availability of malaria management strategies. Therefore, the aim of this study is to determine the prevalence of malaria with its possible risk factors and the presence of pfmdr-1 genes and the drugs in which the mutant allele combinations N86Y, Y184F, S1034C and N1042D are sensitive to among undergraduates in Anchor University. Method Dried blood spots (DBS) were collected from 340 students after testing for the presence of Plasmodium falciparum parasites using RDT kits (On-site Rambo Rapid Detection Kit). The spots were subjected to DNA extraction. The extracted product was then amplified using the Nested PCR and the amplicons was runs on the gel to identify the presence and genotype of gene mutations base pairs. The data was analyzed using the SPSS versions 27 Software. Results The prevalence of malaria in this study was 20.59%. Female students that participated in the study showed higher percentage of malaria than the male, 75.7% and 24.3% respectively. Malaria was also reported in all age groups but the infection rate was highest in the 16–20 age groups (82.9%). 70.88% of the populations studied don’t make use of mosquito nets, and 28.24% don’t use insecticide. Among the P. falciparum positive patients, it was also observed that those who indulge in self-medication and those who didn’t complete their malaria-drugs dosage, presented a higher percentage of those positive for malaria. 66.67% of the population size uses drug combinations of Arthemether and Lumefantrine. Conclusion No mutant allele combinations of the molecular marker of pfmdr1 gene among the participants with P. falciparum was detected in the study.