A descriptive study of 16 severe Plasmodium vivax cases from three municipalities of Colombia between 2009 and 2013

Abstract

BackgroundPlasmodium vivax, the most geographically distributed cause of malaria, accounts for more than 70% of cases in the Americas. In Colombia, P. vivax was responsible for 67.3% of cases in the last five years. Despite vivax malaria impact worldwide, historically it has been neglected and considered to be a benign disease. In the last decade medical literature reports have emerged countering this benign outlook. This study pretends to describe the clinical and paraclinical profile of severe vivax malaria cases hospitalized in Tumaco, Cali, Buenaventura between 2009 and 2013, to contribute to the knowledge regarding the behaviour and clinical expression of this disease.MethodsThis is a descriptive, retrospective case-series study of 16 severe malaria vivax cases, hospitalized between 2009 and 2013, in Colombian municipalities of Tumaco, Buenaventura and Cali. Severe malaria vivax cases were defined using criteria adapted from the national guidelines. Descriptive analyses of reason for consultation, signs and symptoms, diagnosis, treatment, paraclinical characteristics, complications, and time hospitalized, were conducted.ResultsSixteen cases of severe P. vivax were analysed. Fever, chills and headache were shown to be the main admission symptoms. Elevation of total bilirubin levels in 18.75%, and severe thrombocytopaenia in 25% of cases were the main complications presented during hospitalization. All cases responded to treatment, there were no deaths.ConclusionsThe following questions derived from this study could be the basis for future research: 1) Does the time to consultation have an impact on the number of days hospitalized and how cases progress during hospitalization, 2) Are the severity criteria in WHO guidelines sensitive enough to be used in clinical practice compared to national guidelines, and 3) How does malnutrition contribute to anaemia in malaria-endemic regions.

To Study Clinical Profile and Complications of Plasmodium Vivax Malaria

“…Similarly in the study conducted by Dilip R Patil et al (14) incidence of fever with chills and rigors is 98%. Similar findings was observed in a study done by Apte et al (18) and Echeverri et al (19) , O'brien et al (16) . In the present study, examination findings showed, pallor, Icterus, Pedal edema, Hepatomegaly, and Splenomegaly amongst study population was present in 13.33%, 21.33%, 8%, 5.3% and 77.33 %, respectively.…”

“…This is in accordance to study conducted by Dilip R Patil et al, (14) in which also higher incidence of vivax malaria was seen in the age group of 21 to 30 (23.53%). 23.15%, Similar findings was observed in the study conducted by Nadkar et al, (15) , O'brien et al, (16) and Bansal et al. (17) in which 21 to 30 years was observed in 23.15%, 37.5%, and 25.9% respectively .…”

Mapping malaria in municipalities of the Coffee Triangle region of Colombia using Geographic Information Systems (GIS)

“…In this tropical epidemiological scenario, clinical studies addressing that topic would also be useful, given that few studies in the country have assessed the epidemiology of severe P. vivax malaria [11,32], which has been largely documented and reported in other countries of Latin America, such as Venezuela [33][34][35] and Brazil [36][37][38], as well in Asia [39][40][41].…”

Role of Plasmodium vivax Dihydropteroate Synthase Polymorphisms in Sulfa Drug Resistance

“…Although P. vivax infection is usually nonfatal, severe complications, including renal failure, severe anemia, and cerebral malaria, have been reported (2)(3)(4)(5)(6)(7)(8)(9)(10)(11). Because infections with P. vivax parasites can recrudesce months or years after the initial infection, the parasites are also more difficult to eliminate from the community.…”