Autoimmune hemolytic anemia and autoantibodies in a patient with Plasmodium falciparum infection: report of a rare case and review of the literature
Article Category: Clinical report
Published Online: Oct 10, 2018
Page range: 427 - 432
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/abm-2018-0018
Keywords
© 2017 Supat Chamnanchanunt et al., published by Sciendo
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.
Background
Anemia is a common problem among patients with malaria infection, which induces hemolysis during treatment. A few patients present with autoimmune hemolytic anemia (AIHA) and autoantibodies, such as autoanti-E and autoanti-I, during malaria infection.
Objective
To report the clinical response of a patient with
Methods
We reviewed medical records of a patient with
Results
Our patient presented with
Conclusion
Patients with falciparum malaria and both AIHA and autoantibody complications are rare. Our patient responded to malaria eradication and corticosteroid treatment. Most cases reported seem to respond to corticosteroid with a variety of recovery times. However, corticosteroids might increase the severity of infection; more clinical data to support a standard regimen to treat properly rare hematologic complications (AIHA and autoantibodies) in malaria patients are warranted.