Speciation and blood cell parameters in 481 cases of malaria in Nawabshah

This study was conducted in Pathology department of Peoples Medical College for girls, Nawabshah to determine the relative incidence of plasmodium and blood cell parameters in patients suffering from malaria during 1991 to 1992. Blood samples were collected from patients admitted in hospital or referred from out patient clinics for investigation of febrile illness. Four hundred eight-one men. Women and children reported positive for malarial parasite in their peripheral blood film. Their haematology was assessed. Plasmodium falciparum was the most common malarial parasite [64.5%] followed by plasmodium Vivax [34.3%] P. malariae [0.41%], while mixed infection was found in 0.83% of cases. All patients showed a lower than normal haemoglobin, red cell count and haematocrit value; These were significantly lower in patients with plasmodium falciparum falciparum infection than with plasmodium Vivax. The MCV, MCH, MCHC, Platelets count and white cell count were not significantly disturbed. This study shows that there is higher prevalence of plasmodium falciparum, so accurate speciation is essential towards preventing morbidity and mortality as Plasmodium falciparum causes a much more severe form of malaria. The haematological are changes corresponding with the changes occurring in hemolytic anaemias. These changes were more pronounced in plasmodium falciparum infection

Morphological characterization of the hemocytes of the pulmonate snail Biomphalaria tenagophila

The blood cells of the pulmonate snail Biomphalaria tenagophila, an important transmiter of the trematode Schistosoma mansoni in Brazil, were examined by ligth and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Two hemocyte types were identified: hyalinocytes and granulocytes. Hyalinocytes are small young (immature), poorly spreading cells, which have a high nucleocytoplasmic ratio and are especially rich in free ribosomes. They do not appear to contain lysosome-like bodies and represent less than 10% of the circulating hemocytes. Granulocytes are larger hemocytes which readily spread on glass surface and which strongly react to the Gomori substrate, indicating the enzyme acid phosphatase usually found in lysosomes. Ultra-structurally, they contain a well-developed rough endoplasmic reticulum, dictyosomes and some some lysosome-like dense bodies. Granulocytes do not exhibit a characteristic granular aspect and the few granules observed in the cytoplasm should correspond to a lysosome system. They were named granulocytes instead of amoebocytes to use the same terminology adopted for Biomphalaria glabrata in order to make easier comparative studies. This is a preface study for more specific investigations on the functional activities of the blood cells of B. tenagophila and their interactions with the trematode parasite