A Case of Mixed Infection with Malaria and Babesia.
- Author:
Suk Hoe KWEON
1
;
Youn Seup KIM
;
Hyunjoo PAI
;
Junggyeong PARK
;
Hyosoon PARK
;
Min Ho CHOI
;
Jong Yil CHAI
Author Information
1. Department of Internal medicine, Dankook University, College of Medicine, Chunan, Korea.
- Publication Type:Case Report
- Keywords:
malaria;
babesia;
mixed infection
- MeSH:
Animals;
Babesia*;
Babesiosis;
Chloroquine;
Clindamycin;
Coinfection*;
Diagnosis;
Diagnosis, Differential;
Erythrocytes;
Fever;
Follow-Up Studies;
Gabon;
Humans;
Malaria*;
Male;
Parasites;
Plasmodium malariae;
Quinine;
Young Adult
- From:Korean Journal of Infectious Diseases
1998;30(2):198-202
- CountryRepublic of Korea
- Language:Korean
-
Abstract:
Despite efforts to control the spread of malaria, the disease persists in certain parts of the world. Moreover, there has been a resurgence of the disease recently. Another protozoan disease, babesiosis is a disease of animals; Humans are infected only incidentally, and when they are infected, they develop a nonspecific febrile illness. Babesia organism enters red blood cells and resembles malaria parasites, thus posing a problem in the differential diagnosis. We encountered an imported case of mixed infection of malaria and babesia. The patient was a 20-year old Korean male who had been in Saong-dume near Gabon for 3 months. We treated him with chloroquine with the diagnosis of Plasmodium malariae infection, but fever recurred after 2 weeks of the treatment. The second peripheral blood smear findings revealed specific ring forms of Babesia spp, so we changed to quinine and clindamycin. The treatment was successful and the patient was well after 4 months of follow-up period.
