Imported Plasmodium falciparum malaria in HIV-infected patients: a report of two cases

• Published in: Malaria Journal
• Main Authors: García-Bujalance Silvia, Francisco Carolina, Rubio José M, Arribas José R, Gutierrez Avelino
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: BMC 2012
• Subjects: Plasmodium falciparum; HIV; Imported malaria; Sequence analysis; Drug interaction; Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine; RC955-962; Infectious and parasitic diseases; RC109-216; Arctic
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1186/1475-2875-11-136; https://doaj.org/article/ed4adacc57314ec181bdd3373c89e4bc

Abstract As HIV becomes a chronic infection, an increasing number of HIV-infected patients are travelling to malaria-endemic areas. Association of malaria with HIV/AIDS can be clinically severe. Severe falciparum malaria is a medical emergency that is associated with a high mortality, even when treated in an Intensive Care Unit. This article describes two cases of HIV-positive patients, who returned from malaria-endemic areas and presented a parasitaemia > 5% of erythrocytes and clinical signs of severe falciparum malaria, both with > 350 CD4 cell count/μl, absence of chemoprophylaxis and successful response. Factors like drug interactions and the possible implication of anti-malarial therapy bioavailability are all especially interesting in HIV-malaria co-infections.