We investigated some anti-inflammatory interleukin profiles in peripheral and placental blood of 96 pregnant women infected with Plasmodium falciparum malaria in Ekpoma, Nigeria. In peripheral blood, interleukin-4 (IL-4) was elevated in mild (10.6 pg/ml) than in moderate (3.7 pg/ml) infection while in placental blood, elevated levels were observed in moderate (11.7 pg/ml) than mild (1.6pg/ml) infection. The depressed levels of interleukin-5 (IL-5) seen in mild than moderate infection in peripheral (331.0 pg/ml versus 419.6 pg/ml) and placental (314.2 pg/ml versus 571.2 pg/ml) blood was statistically significant (χ 2 =10.46 and χ 2 = 74.58; p <0 .05). Interleukin-10 (IL-10) was elevated in mild infection (225 pg/ml) than in moderate infection (56 pg/ml) in peripheral blood and this difference was significant (χ 2 = 101.64; p <0.05) while in placental blood, the elevated levels observed in moderate infection (226 pg/ml) was statistically higher than mild (158.3 pg/ml) infection (χ 2 =11.88; p < 0.05). The volunteers with moderate infection had low haemoglobin level of 7.5g/dl and a mean low birth weight of 2.43kg.
