Research Information System
24. International İntensive care symposium, İstanbul, Turkey, 5 - 06 May 2023, pp.90, (Full Text)
Introduction: During COVID-19 pandemic, treatment processes are
disrupted all over the World. Malaria, which is in the first place among
the deaths due to infection, is especially common in Sub-Saharan African
countries. It should be kept in mind that there may be confusion in the
diagnosis due to the similarity of symptoms with COVID-19 disease, and
that the two diseases may coexist. Comorbidity of malaria coexisting with
COVID-19 is likely to adversely affect the prognosis. In this case, we aimed
to share the treatment and follow-up processes of our case; co-infection
with COVID-19 and malaria,which is rare in Turkey.
Case: A 32-year-old male patient presented to the emergency department
with complaints of fever and respiratory distress. It was learned that
the patient traveled to Somalia and his complaints started 4 days ago.
The patient with positive SARS-CoV-2 PCR antigen test, tachycardia,
hypotension and respiratory distress. Peripheral blood smear and
malaria antigen were requested. No parasite was observed in the smear
but the patient was positive for Plasmodium falciparum antigen. Grade I
hepatomegaly and splenomegaly were observed in abdominal USG, and
a two-fold increase in ALT was observed in laboratory tests. The patient
was started on treatment for 3 days. In addition to malaria treatment,
no additional antiviral treatment was given for COVID-19. After the
completion of malaria treatment, the patient whose hemodynamics was
stable and oxygen requirement was decreased, discharged to the ward
on the 5th day.
Discussion: Respiratory viral infections cause susceptibility to coinfections in patients,and coinfections cause an increase in the severity
of the disease and mortality. It should be kept in mind that symptoms
such as fever, myalgia, and headache, which are common in COVID-19
infection can also be seen in COVID-19 co-infections. In addition, malaria
relapse may occur due to a newly developed infection such as COVID-19
in people previously infected with P. vivax. Since malaria is a disease with
symptoms similar to COVID-19, this infection should be kept in mind for
people traveling to Sub-Saharan African Countries where it is endemic.