BACKGROUND Pneumonia is a leading cause of hospitalization and death among children in Africa. We describe the clinical presentation of severe pneumonia among hospitalized children in a malaria endemic area with a high prevalence of HIV infection. METHODS As part of a 2-year prospective study of radiologically confirmed pneumonia, chest radiographs, malaria parasite counts and bacterial blood...

BACKGROUND Severe malaria is difficult to differentiate from other forms of malaria or other infections with similar symptoms. Any parameter associated to malaria-attributable severe disease could help to improve severe malaria diagnosis. METHODOLOGY This study assessed the relation between erythropoietin (EPO) and malaria-attributable severe disease in an area of Mozambique with moderate mal...

Malaria infection induces oxidative stress in the host cells. Antioxidant enzymes such as glutathione S-transferases (GSTs) are responsible for fighting reactive oxygen species and reduction of oxidative stress. Common GST polymorphisms have been associated with susceptibility to different diseases whose pathologies involve oxidative stress. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that GST poly...

BACKGROUND This study sought to describe and quantify microcirculatory changes in the mucosal surfaces of patients with severe malaria, by direct in vivo observation using orthogonal polarization spectral (OPS) imaging. METHODS The microcirculation in the rectal mucosa of adult patients with severe malaria was assessed by use of OPS imaging, at admission and then daily. Comparison groups comp...

Heme oxygenase 1 expression is increased in pediatric patients with malaria. The carboxyhemoglobin level (a measure of heme oxygenase 1 activity) has not been assessed in adult patients with malaria. Results of pulse co-oximetry revealed that the mean carboxyhemoglobin level was elevated in 29 Indonesian adults with severe falciparum malaria (10%; 95% confidence interval [CI], 8%-13%) and in 20...

Cerebral malaria is a clinical manifestation of the brain during Plasmodium falciparum infection, which may lead to fatal outcomes if left unattended or delayed in therapeutic management. It is often accompanied by multi-organ complications such as renal failure, respiratory distress, jaundice, severe anemia etc., further raising the degree of mortality. Over the years, the management of severe...

• Malaria is four times more likely to strike pregnant women than other adults and is more common among pregnant women than in the general population. Immunosuppression and loss of acquired immunity to malaria during pregnancy are possible causes of this.3 • Anaemia during pregnancy determines a higher risk to severe symptoms of malaria. • Women with both HIV and malaria are especially vulnerab...

Severe malaria causes an estimated 1.24 million deaths every year, mostly in children in sub-Saharan Africa (1). Canadian pediatric infectious diseases practitioners may encounter life-threatening malaria among children emigrating from or returning from travel to the tropics. There were 195 reported cases of severe malaria in Canada between 2001 and 2012 (2), and the recent death of a malaria-i...

BACKGROUND In areas of endemic transmission, malaria in pregnancy is associated with severe maternal anaemia and low birthweight babies. The prevalence of infection is highest in primigravidae (PG), and hence control efforts are usually geared towards this high risk group. Using a sensitive measure of placental infection, we investigated the relationship between active-acute, active-chronic and...

The interplay between cellular and molecular determinants that lead to severe malaria in adults is unexplored. Here, we analyzed parasite virulence factors in an infected adult population in India and investigated whether severe malaria isolates impair endothelial protein C receptor (EPCR), a protein involved in coagulation and endothelial barrier permeability. Severe malaria isolates overexpre...