ABSTRACT
Malaria is entirely preventable and treatable vector-borne disease which account for an estimated 219 million cases globally, killing about 660,000 people, mostly children under five years of age. The synergistic effects of nutrition in malaria infection were observed in mice fed with different nutrients (protein, carbohydrate, and grower mash) compounded diets for eight weeks prior to infection. All the experimental mice were infected with plasmodium berghei. The highest parasitaemia level was recorded among the carbohydrate fed mice, followed by the group fed with grower mash, while the protein fed mice recorded a significantly lower level of parasitaemia. The infected mice were treated with Artesunate for four (4) days. The drugs were administered orally, and aimed to determine the nutritional activity on response to treatment in malaria Plasmodium berghei mouse model. Twenty five mice were used for the experiment and divided into three groups, in which carbohydrate fed mice contained 10 animals, protein fed mice contained 10 animals, while the grower mash fed mice contained 5 animals. The mice were later divided, each diet group were divided into two groups. At the end of 4 days, it was observed that parasitaemia in protein fed treatment group reduced from 17.94% (day1) to 0.30% (day4) and carbohydrate fed treatment group reduced from 24.40% (day1) to 3.14% (day4), while grower mash fed treatment group produced a reduction from 20.33% (day1) to 3.14% (day4). However, these results were significantly different when compared to the infected non-treated groups. None of the mice in all the infected non-treated nutrient groups survived with parasitaemia level of ≥ 40.0%.
