Effect of seasonal malaria chemoprevention with sulfadoxine pyrimethamine / amodiaquine and azithromycin on the variability of hematological parameters

Abstract

Prolonged administration of the drug may alter some haematological parameters. Here, we explored the effect of administration of sulfadoxine / pyrimethamine (SP) and amodiaquine (AQ) and the addition of Azithromycin (AZ) on hematologic parameters of children aged 24–59 months. Venous samples were taken from a group treated with SPAQ and a group treated with SPAQ + AZ and from untreated control group. Hematologic parameters were measured using the ABX Pentra 60 automated system and the search for Plasmodium was performed using thick drops and smears. The number of red blood cells was significantly lower in the untreated group (P = 0.0018, F = 3.28). Anemia was present mostly in untreated children (68.8% vs. 37%) compared to treated children, and there were three times the chance of being anemic in the untreated group. Also, a lower number of white blood cells were observed in the treated group regardless of the treatment.
These results seem to be related to the infectious status of the untreated group in which the prevalence of malaria,
the cause of anemia was higher (55.9%). The treatment would also have lowered the prevalence of other infections,
which explains the low number of white blood cells observed in the treated group.