Acalculous cholecystitis in a patient with Plasmodium falciparum infection after a trip to the Dominican Republic

Abstract

Acalculous cholecystitis has been associated with several infectious agents, but its relation with Plasmodium falciparum infection has not been clearly defined. This is the first case of acalculous cholecystitis produced by Plasmodium falciparum infection that is directly documented and should be included among the differential diagnoses of acalculous cholecystitis.

Acute acalculous cholecystitis complicating an imported case of mixed malaria caused by Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium vivax

“…A MEDLINE search showed that only 10 cases of malarial AAC have been reported in the literature. [19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27] Table 1 describes the clinical characteristics of the reported cases of malarial AAC, including our case. The paucity of cases is possibly due to under-reporting, since the symptoms and signs (e.g., abdominal pain and tenderness) of AAC are nonspecific.…”

“…All cases of malarial AAC, including ours, showed two or more of these criteria. [19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27] Although AAC is classically associated with a high rate of life-threatening complications (e.g., gangrene and perforation), such complications have not been described with malarial AAC (Table 1). Despite this observation, an increased risk of gallbladder gangrene and perforation in patients with malarial AAC cannot be convincingly ruled out.…”