Red cell survivality in visceral Leishmaniasis [Kala-Azar]

ABSTRACT

To elucidate red cell survivality in visceral leishmaniasis [kala-azar] and to see any relation of it with duration of fever, splenic enlargement and hemoglobin concentration. Design: Prospective study of inpatients involving 32 cases of kala-azar. Setting: Medical unit-III of Rajshari Medical college, Rejshari Bangladesh. Subjects: Thirty two consequative adult parasitologically proved cases of kala-azar admitted to the medical word. Main outcome measures: Red cell life span in kala-azar and its relation with duration of fever, splenic enlargement and haemoglobin concentration. Mean [ +/- SD] duration of fever, splenic enlargement and haemoglobin concentration of the 32 [male 23, female 9] cases were 17.8 [ +/- 13.7] weeks, 7.2 [ +/- 3.6] cm old 7.6 [ +/- 2.2] gm% respectively. Red cell life span of the cases were reduced and ranged from 40-115 days with a mean [ +/- SD] of 91.4 [ +/- 20] days. It was markedly reduced in cases with duration of fever more than 20 weeks, splenic enlargement more than 8 cm and haemoglobin concentration less than 8 gm%. Red cell survivality is reduced in kala-azar and is likely to be a contributory factor in the development of anaemia in such cases. Reduced red cell life span was also found to be related to the duration of fever, splenic enlargement and haemoglobin concentration