ESAN A. J^1,, OMISAKIN C.T¹, TITILAYO O. E², FASAKIN K. A¹

Malaria is a serious public health problem in most countries of the tropics. Oxidative stress is related to the severity of malaria, oxidative stress in malaria may originate from several sources including intracellular parasitized erythrocytes and extra-erythrocytes as a result of haemolysis and host response. The aim of this study therefore is to determine the gender difference on stress induced by malaria parasite infection and effect of anti-malaria drug on stress index. 202 confirmed malaria infected patients were recruited for the study between the ages of 15 – 64 years of both sexes at the general outpatient clinic of the Federal Medical Centre, Ido-Ekiti, Nigeria. 129(63.9%) were males and 73(36.1%) were females. The mean ± SD of MDA, MPC and WBC in male were significantly (P < 0.05) higher compared to female in pre, post anti-malaria drug treatment. Stress induced by malaria parasite was observed higher in male compared to female; gender norms and values that influence the division of labour, leisure patterns, and sleeping arrangements can influence different patterns of exposure to mosquitoes for men and women which responsible for differences in stress induced by malaria parasite among the gender; during malaria treatment, the level of stress induced by malaria parasite was decline due to the effect of anti-malaria drug used.

gender, malaria parasite, stress