Falciparum malaria and severe thrombocytopenia

Abstract

Idiopathic immune thrombocytopenic purpura is the most common hemorrhagic disease in children. Among parasite-associated thrombocytopenias, however, that induced by malaria is prevalent. We present the case of a three-year-old boy from an endemic malaria area in Colombia, with Plasmodium falciparum malaria whose initial treatment was unknown, who consulted due to a relapse of his clinical picture, which was characterized by anemia , low parasitaemias, persistence of gametocytes, bleeding and reticulocytosis. The manifestations of the disease were varied, but profound thrombocytopenia stood out. After ten days of hospital stay, a notable improvement was obtained, confirmed by the negativization of the hemoparasite and the normalization of the hemoglobin and platelet values.