Prevalence of Malaria in Febrile Patients Presenting with Thrombocytopenia at LUMHS, Jamshoro

Abstract

Objective: To determine the frequency of malaria in febrile patients presenting with thrombocytopenia at LUMHS, Jamshoro.

Methodology: A cross sectional study was conducted at Department of Medicine, LUMHS, Jamshoro, Hyderabad, during six months from 01-02-2023 till 31-7-2023. Febrile patients with thrombocytopenia, either gender aged 20-80 years were included. Blood sample was obtained from each cases and analyzed for complete blood count (CBC) and malaria diagnosis using Giemsa-stained thin and thick blood smears. Patients were assessed and labeled as malaria-positive based on the presence of malarial parasites under microscopy. After data collection the analysis was done by SPSS version 26.

Results: Overall mean age of the 153 patients was 39.65±14.30 years with male gender predominance 105 (68.6%). Overall, malaria was detected in 67.3% of 153 febrile patients with thrombocytopenia, with Plasmodium vivax being the most common species 60(39.2%), followed by Plasmodium falciparum 30 (19.6%) and mixed infections 13(8.5%). Among all patients, 37.3% had severe thrombocytopenia. Prevalence of malaria found statistically insignificant by gender, residence, or socioeconomic status, though it was slightly higher in rural areas and in patients with platelet counts <50,000/µL (p=>0.005), while there was a significant association between thrombocytopenia severity and parasite type (p= 0.001), as all mixed infections occurred in patients with platelet counts <50,000/µL.

Conclusion: Malarial detections was observed highly prevalent among febrile patients presenting with thrombocytopenia, with Plasmodium vivax being the predominant species, and with a significant association between thrombocytopenia severity and parasite type, as all mixed infections occurred in patients with severe thrombocytopenia.