Malaria and COVID-19 coinfection in a non-malaria-endemic area in Brazil

• Published in: Revista da Sociedade Brasileira de Medicina Tropical
• Main Authors: Verônica Diniz Rocha, Larissa W Brasil, Erika de Oliveira Gomes, Ricardo Khouri, Gilcivaldo de Jesus Ferreira, Beatriz Vasconcelos, Marcela de Sá Gouveia, Thais Souza Santos, Mitermayer G Reis, Marcus Vinícius Guimarães Lacerda
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Sociedade Brasileira de Medicina Tropical (SBMT) 2023
• Subjects: Malaria; COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine; RC955-962; Arctic
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1590/0037-8682-0598-2022; https://doaj.org/article/c14572d414b748faa366d4f0e926e069

ABSTRACT Differential diagnosis of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) from other febrile diseases is one of several challenges imposed by the pandemic. We present a case of severe malaria and COVID-19 coinfection in a non-malaria-endemic region. A 44-year-old female with malaise, fever, hypotension, jaundice, and enlarged liver and spleen was admitted to the intensive care unit. Reverse transcription-quantitative PCR results for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 were positive. Rapid tests, microscopy, and quantitative PCR were positive for Plasmodium vivax. Cytokine storm profiles were identified. We could not determine whether the severe vivax malaria in our patient was triggered by COVID-19 coinfection.