Severe Falciparum and Vivax Malaria on the Thailand-Myanmar Border: A Review of 1503 Cases
Issued Date
2023-09-11
Resource Type
eISSN
15376591
Scopus ID
2-s2.0-85170717172
Pubmed ID
37144342
Journal Title
Clinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America
Volume
77
Issue
5
Start Page
721
End Page
728
Rights Holder(s)
SCOPUS
Bibliographic Citation
Clinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America Vol.77 No.5 (2023) , 721-728
Suggested Citation
Chu C.S., Stolbrink M., Stolady D., Saito M., Beau C., Choun K., Wah T.G., Mu N., Htoo K., Nu B., Keereevijit A., Wiladpaingern J., Carrara V., Phyo A.P., Lwin K.M., Luxemburger C., Proux S., Charunwatthana P., Mcgready R., White N.J., Nosten F. Severe Falciparum and Vivax Malaria on the Thailand-Myanmar Border: A Review of 1503 Cases. Clinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America Vol.77 No.5 (2023) , 721-728. 728. doi:10.1093/cid/ciad262 Retrieved from: https://repository.li.mahidol.ac.th/handle/20.500.14594/90142
Title
Severe Falciparum and Vivax Malaria on the Thailand-Myanmar Border: A Review of 1503 Cases
Other Contributor(s)
Abstract
BACKGROUND: The northwestern border of Thailand is an area of low seasonal malaria transmission. Until recent successful malaria elimination activities, malaria was a major cause of disease and death. Historically the incidences of symptomatic Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium vivax malaria were approximately similar. METHODS: All malaria cases managed in the Shoklo Malaria Research Unit along the Thailand-Myanmar border between 2000 and 2016 were reviewed. RESULTS: There were 80 841 consultations for symptomatic P. vivax and 94 467 for symptomatic P. falciparum malaria. Overall, 4844 (5.1%) patients with P. falciparum malaria were admitted to field hospitals, of whom 66 died, compared with 278 (0.34%) with P. vivax malaria, of whom 4 died (3 had diagnoses of sepsis, so the contribution of malaria to their fatal outcomes is uncertain). Applying the 2015 World Health Organization severe malaria criteria, 68 of 80 841 P. vivax admissions (0.08%) and 1482 of 94 467 P. falciparum admissions (1.6%) were classified as severe. Overall, patients with P. falciparum malaria were 15 (95% confidence interval, 13.2-16.8) times more likely than those with P. vivax malaria to require hospital admission, 19 (14.6-23.8) times more likely to develop severe malaria, and ≥14 (5.1-38.7) times more likely to die. CONCLUSIONS: In this area, both P. falciparum and P. vivax infections were important causes of hospitalization, but life-threatening P. vivax illness was rare.