ABSTRACT
Background: Plasmodium vivax is the most widely distributed human malarial parasite. Mild thrombocytopenia is a common feature of acute malaria caused by P. vivax regardless of the severity of infection which may progress to severe thrombocytopenia. The aim of our study was to find the frequency of thrombocytopenia in Plasmodium vivax
Materials and Methods: This descriptive cross sectional study was carried out at Peadiatrics unit, Shaikh Zayed Hospital, Lahore from July, 2013 to November, 2014 comprising of 56 children of both gender age 14 years and below who presented with fever of more than 101o F and Plasmodium vivax rings, trophozoites or schizonts on peripheral blood smear [thick and thin smear]. Full blood counts and platelet counts were done along with other routine as well specific investigations where required. The data was entered in standardized proforma and analyzed on SPSS 17
Results: There were 40 [71.43%] males and 16 [28.57%] females with the mean ages of 6.3 +/- 4.4 and 9.4 +/- 3.3 of males and females respectively with an overall mean age of 7.6 +/- 4.2. The frequency of thrombocytopenia was noted in 46 patients [82.14%]. Mild thrombocytopenia was in 15 patients [26.79%] with mean of 119,000.89 +/- 8,000.76SD, moderate in 23 [41.07%] with mean of 89,210.56 +/- 5637.23 and severe thrombocytopenia was in 8 patients [14.29%] with mean of 29,678.98 +/- 2389.54
Conclusion: Thrombocytopenia is common in P. vivax malaria in our set up and all patients with such malaria must be screened for thrombocytopenia