Difficult diagnosis of malaria.
Symptoms suggested malaria in a patient who had recently returned to the United States from Africa, but blood smears were persistently negative for malaria parasites. The diagnosis was established in an unusual way when a laboratory technician detected malaria parasites in a lupus erythematosus cell preparation.
D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008288:Malaria / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis*