English

Abstract

BACKGROUND Among malarial parasites, Plasmodium vivax is most prevalent in humans. Recent studies have shown severe and fatal complications with Plasmodium vivax infection. We wanted to evaluate the clinical spectrum, complications and outcomes of adult subjects with Plasmodium vivax malaria mono-infection. METHODS This is a retrospective study involving 100 subjects RESULTS Males were more commonly affected. It was most prevalent in the second decade of life. Fever was present in all patients. The other common symptoms were headache, vomiting, and jaundice. The incidence of associated clinical findings were pallor (43 %), icterus (21%), hepatomegaly (39 %) and splenomegaly (27 %). Severe thrombocytopenia was seen in 18 %, hyper bilirubinaemia in 39 % of subjects. Cerebral malaria was observed in 3 %, acute kidney injury in 13 %, ARDS (Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome) in 5 % cases, MODS (Multi Organ Dysfunction Syndrome) was seen in 3 % cases, with a mortality of 3 %. CONCLUSIONS Complications like ARDS, AKI (Acute Kidney Injury), cerebral malaria and MODS were observed in benign tertian malaria subjects in our study. Cerebral malaria, AKI, MODS, ARDS were associated with high degrees of mortality. KEYWORDS Plasmodium vivax, ARDS (Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome), Cerebral Malaria, AKI (Acute Kidney Injury), MODS (Multiorgan Dysfunction Syndrome)