RESUMEN
Background: Dengue fever and malaria both can present with thrombocytopenia and is regarded as a strong predictor of dengue fever. Thrombocytopenia is also considered criterion of disease severity, bad prognostic factor and its presence is associated with increase probability of malaria
Objective: To determine frequency of co-existence of dengue fever and malaria in thrombocytopenic patients presented with acute febrile illness in tertiary care hospital
Methods: Cross-sectional, observational study conducted at the department of Emergency Medicine, Ziauddin University Hospital, Karachi from April 2013 to January 2014. A total of 159 patients meeting inclusion criteria were included in this study. 5ml of blood by venupuncture in EDTA anti-coagulant for platelet count and preparing thick and thin films and 2 ml of blood in plain bottle for detection of dengue specific IgM was collected from all patients. Thick films are used to identify malarial parasites and thin films to identify specie. Dengue fever was diagnosed on positive dengue IgM. Co-existence was labeled as positive if malarial parasites and dengue IgM found to be present at the same time. This diffusion susceptibility test was use to determine susceptibility of bacterial agents to antibiotics. Data was analyzed by descriptive statistics using SPSS software version 19
Results: Overall mean [+/- SD] age was 38.3 [+/- 7.9] years, with Male to female ratio was 1.1: 1. Coinfections [Dengue and Malaria] were diagnosed in 5 [5.6%] of cases. From 5 cases, 3 [60%] were male and 2 [40%] were female. Mean [+/- SD] age of 5 positive cases of co-infection was 37.8 [+/- 8.3] years
Conclusion: Concurrent infections were found 5.6% in this study, however, this percentage is slightly low; and special consideration should be given to the likelihood of co-infection with dengue and malaria Co-existence of dengue fever and malaria in thrombocytopenic patients presented with acute febrile illness