Thrombocytopenia in Hospitalized Malaria Patients

Objective: To assess the occurrence and severity of thrombocytopenia in hospitalized Malaria patients. Design and Setting: Prospective hospital based case series from August 2003 to December 2004 conducted in the medical unit of tertiary care center. Patients and Methods: All hospitalized patients with acute febrile illness without localizing signs were considered for the study. Peripheral smear examination for malarial parasite was taken as a gold standard for the diagnosis of malaria. Those with positive MP were then included in the study. Hematological parameters were determined by using automated analyzer. Those with reduced platelet count were re-evaluated with manual method. Result: A total of 128 patients were subjected for malaria testing during the study period. Sixty patients had a positive peripheral smear. Fifty one (85%) were P falciparum positive and 9 (15%) were P vivax positive. Forty two (70%) patients had thrombocytopenia. Thirty two were (76%) male and ten (24%) female. Thirty nine (93%) patients with thrombocytopenia were P falciparum positive and only 3 (7%) patients had vivax malaria. Thrombocytopenia was mild in 29 (70%) patients, moderate in 9 (22%) and severe in 4 (8%) patients. Conclusion: Higher frequency of mild to severe thrombocytopenia was observed in hospitalized patients, which should alert the possibility of malarial infection. In these cases P falciparum was found to be common species.