Study of total serum lactate dehydrogenase activity as an indirect evidence of acute Plasmodium falciparum infection

Background : Lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) activity was assayed in the sera of 40 adult male and 40 adult female patients within the age group of 16-50 years presenting with acute, Plasmodium falciparum malaria infection and a control group of 40 healthy adults within the same age group. Study objective: Study was design to determine diagnostic value of serum LDH activity in patient with acute P.falciparum Infection. Methods: Patient selection and pre-qualification were done by simple random sampling of individuals presenting at the MBS Hospital Outpatient Department with a history of fever and malaise within a period of one to eight days, and who were confirmed to be infected with the P. falciparum malaria parasite by microscopically examination of Giemsa-stained thin blood slides. Results: The mean serum LDH activity in male patients was found to be 564 ±236.0 IU. This activity is significantly higher than the control LDH activity of 237.10±19.0 IU (p-value is less than 0.05). The mean serum LDH activity among female patients was 468 ±177.0 IU, which is a relatively higher activity compared to the control LDH activity of 237.10 ±19.0 IU (p-value is less than 0.05). Conclusion: The combination of acute hepatocellular injury and red cell haemolysis induced by the invading merozoites may account for the increase in serum LDH activity during this infection. Therefore serum LDH activity is a potentially valuable enzymatic marker of falciparum malaria infection.