Malaria and COVID-19: A double battle for Burundi

Mohanan, Parvathy; Islam, Zarmina; Hasan, Mohammad Mehedi; Adedeji, Oluwakorede Joshua; Costa, Ana Carla dos Santos; Aborode, Abdullahi Tunde; Ahmad, Shoaib; Essar, Mohammad Yasir

doi:10.1016/j.afjem.2021.10.006

Cited by 14 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 5 publications

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“…The weak disease surveillance system in Africa is worsened at the emergence of COVID-19 pandemic as it has hampered treatment, testing, immunization and surveillance efforts for other infectious diseases such as malaria [ 43 – 45 ]. Several countries in Africa have switched focus towards COVID-19 care which results in ambiguous surveillance data for other infectious diseases.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Low incidence of COVID-19 case severity and mortality in Africa; Could malaria co-infection provide the missing link?

et al. 2022

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Background Despite reports of malaria and coronavirus diseases 2019 (COVID-19) co-infection, malaria-endemic regions have so far recorded fewer cases of COVID-19 and deaths from COVID-19, indicating a probable protection from the poor outcome of COVID-19 by malaria. On the contrary, other evidence suggests that malaria might contribute to the death caused by COVID-19. Hence, this paper reviewed existing evidence hypothesizing poor outcome or protection of COVID-19 patients when co-infected with malaria. Methods PRISMA guidelines for systematic review were employed in this study. Published articles from December 2019 to May 2021on COVID-19 and malaria co-infection and outcome were systematically searched in relevant and accessible databases following a pre-defined strategy. Studies involving human, in vivo animal studies, and in vitro studies were included. Results Twenty three (23) studies were included in the review out of the 3866 records identified in the selected scientific databases. Nine (9) papers reported on co-infection of COVID-19 and malaria. Five (5) papers provided information about synergism of malaria and COVID-19 poor prognosis, 2 papers reported on syndemic of COVID-19 and malaria intervention, and 7 studies indicated that malaria protects individuals from COVID-19. Conclusions Low incidence of COVID-19 in malaria-endemic regions supports the hypothesis that COVID-19 poor prognosis is prevented by malaria. Although further studies are required to ascertain this hypothesis, cross-immunity and common immunodominant isotopes provide strong evidence to support this hypothesis. Also, increase in co-inhibitory receptors and atypical memory B cells indicate synergy between COVID-19 and malaria outcome, though, more studies are required to make a definite conclusion.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Low incidence of COVID-19 case severity and mortality in Africa; Could malaria co-infection provide the missing link?

et al. 2022

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“…This funding needs to be channelled to treatment of sepsis, generation of local sepsis evidence and improving evidence uptake by policymakers. Evidence should focus on linkages between sepsis and the country’s existing health sector priorities, such as maternal health, infectious diseases and health system strengthening [ 17 ]. Research uptake should be through stakeholder engagement, particularly the media, and the generation of strategic communications products from research, such as animation, infographics and policy briefs.…”

Section: Conclusion and Recommendationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Amid the global coronavirus pandemic, emerging evidence warns that the most serious complications of COVID-19 include sepsis [ 9 – 13 ]; and COVID-19 reinforces the need to improve sepsis care [ 13 ]. With the emergence of COVID-19, epidemics such as Ebola, Marburg virus disease, Lassa fever, malaria, dengue and measles have also re-emerged in several Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs) [ 7 , 14 – 17 ]. The treatment of these epidemics has been challenging for health systems due to the similarity in the presentation of the disease to COVID-19, thereby making misdiagnosis likely.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Furthermore, knowledge of these guidelines amongst Malawian medical students and health care workers is limited [ 27 ]. Beyond Malawi, other countries in Africa are facing similar challenges in their health systems because of inadequate resources such as beds and health care workers– which fall 60% below the UN’s least limit [ 17 , 28 , 29 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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On prioritising global health’s triple crisis of sepsis, COVID-19 and antimicrobial resistance: a mixed-methods study from Malawi

Kawale

Kalitsilo

Mphande

et al. 2022

BMC Health Serv Res

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Sepsis causes 20% of global deaths, particularly among children and vulnerable populations living in developing countries. This study investigated how sepsis is prioritised in Malawi’s health system to inform health policy. In this mixed-methods study, twenty multisectoral stakeholders were qualitatively interviewed and asked to quantitatively rate the likelihood of sepsis-related medium-term policy outcomes being realised. Respondents indicated that sepsis is not prioritised in Malawi due to a lack of local sepsis-related evidence and policies. However, they highlighted strong linkages between sepsis and maternal health, antimicrobial resistance and COVID-19, which are already existing national priorities, and offers opportunities for sepsis researchers as policy entrepreneurs. To address the burden of sepsis, we recommend that funding should be channelled to the generation of local evidence, evidence uptake, procurement of resources and treatment of sepsis cases, development of appropriate indicators for sepsis, adherence to infection prevention and control measures, and antimicrobial stewardship.

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“…Due to health financing constraints and the poor human resource management that take out the incentive to work efficiently or remain in Africa, a great number of these doctors and nurses that were so expensive to train migrate, fueling the deep complexity of the crisis of human resources for healthcare in Africa [ [10] , [11] , [12] , [13] , [14] , [15] ]. In 2020, Niger presented the highest rate of illiteracy of 35%, which have reflection on the account of 4% of all Malaria cases globally, an alarming statistic because Niger had a population of close to 23 million in the same year.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%