Chandra Bai, Arit Parkash, Muhammad Matloob Alam, Nighat Haider, Abdul Sattar Shaikh.
Frequency of Thrombocytopenia in Children with Acute Vivax Malaria.
Infect Dis J Jan ;22(2):560-2.

Objectives: Malaria causes more than 300 million acute illnesses and approximately one million deaths annually. Worldwide it is one of the 5 killers in the pediatric population. Hematological changes especially anemia and thrombocytopenia are considered as hallmark for malarial infection that leads to severe complications and fatality. The aim of this study is to determine frequency of thrombocytopenia in children with acute vivax malaria. Method: A cross sectional descriptive study conducted at the pediatric medical unit of National Institute of Child Health Karachi over a period of 6 months (October 2009 to March 2010). All patients admitted with acute febrile illness of less than seven days with signs and symptoms suggestive of acute malaria were considered for the study. Peripheralsmear examination for malarial parasite (MP) Plasmodium vivax was taken as gold standard. Those with positive MP were then included in thestudy after taking consent. Platelet counts were performed with both automated analyzer and manually. Data was collected on a structured proforma. Results: A total of 78 children with acute febrile illness of less than seven days with positive P. vivax were included in this study. Most (48.7%). of the children were between 5 to 8 years of age. The average age of the children was 4.24±2.13 years. Out of 78 patients, 42(54%) were male. Chills was the most common symptoms that was observed in 74.4% cases followed by sweating (71.8% ), splenomegaly (38.5%), headache (37%), body ache (29.5%) and fatigue (15.4%). Thrombocytopenia was observed in 73% (57/78) cases. Conclusion: In this study a highfrequency of thrombocytopenia was observed in patients with acute vivax malaria.

PakMediNet -Pakistan's largest Database of Pakistani Medical Journals - http://www.pakmedinet.com