EVALUATION OF PLATELET COUNT AND PLATELET INDICES IN PATIENTS WITH ACUTE MALARIA IN SHENDI LOCALITY
Abstract
Background: Malaria is the commonest cause of morbidity in Africa. This study describes altered platelet count and platelet indices in patients with acute malaria caused by Plasmodium falciparum, Plasmodium vivax and plasmodium malariae and uses these alterations as initial hint for malarial infection and therefore encourage the laboratory physicians for more depth search of the parasite microscopically. Methods: Platelet count and platelet indices in (123) patients with acute malaria were evaluated, living in Shendi locality in northern Sudan, an area of malarial holoendemic transmission. Results: The results of this study showed that platelet count, mean platelet volume (MPV), and Plateletcrit (PCT) values were exhibited significant decrease, but there was no change in platelet distribution width (PDW). Three sympatric Plasmodium species were recorded during this study with different prevalence of (77.2%) P.falciparum, (13.8%) P.malairae and (8.9%) P.vivax consequently. Mean platelet count decreased with an increase in density of parasitaemia. Conclusion: Malaria is associated with different degrees of reduction platelet count and alteration of platelet indices and may be used as probable indicator for malaria in endemic regions and therefore encourage the laboratory physicians for more depth search of the parasite microscopically.
Keywords: Malaria, Plasmodium species, Platelets.
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