title: Complications associated with Plasmodium vivax malaria: a retrospective study from a tertiary care hospital based in Western Uttar Pradesh, India.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Plasmodium vivax (p. vivax) malaria was traditionally considered as benign tertian malaria, however, recent studies have pointed out that p. vivax have potential to cause all severe complications previously attributed to p. falciparum infection only. The aim of this report is to study the incidence of various clinical and biochemical complications associated with severe p. vivax malaria.
  
  
  METHODS
  A retrospective analysis was performed on all patients with p. vivax malaria admitted to our center between January 2009 and December 2011. Severe malaria was defined as per World Health Organization (WHO) criteria. Clinical and laboratory parameters were recorded. Patients with evidence of p. falciparum, mixed malarial infection and chronic systemic diseases were excluded from the study.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Sixty-two patients met the criteria for severe malaria during the study period. The complications observed were Hepatic dysfunction in 18 (29%), renal dysfunction in 13 (21%), cerebral malaria in 10 (16.1%), acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) in 6 (9.7%), shock in 10 (16.1%), severe anemia in 16 (25.8%), thrombocytopenia in 35 (56.5%), and hypoglycemia in 3 (4.8%) patients. Three mortalities were observed.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  P. vivax has immense potential to cause life threatening complications and even death, more research is required to understand the exact pathogenesis of various complications encountered in vivax malaria.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College and Hospital, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, India.
authors.forename: Imran
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Rizvi
authors.forename: Devendra Kumar
authors.initials: DK
authors.lastname: Tripathi
authors.forename: Anjum Mirza
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Chughtai
authors.forename: Mujahid
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Beg
authors.forename: Shamsuz
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zaman
authors.forename: Noorin
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Zaidi
mesh_terms: D005260:Female; D006785:Hospitals, University; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007194:India / Q000453:epidemiology; D008107:Liver Diseases / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology; D016780:Malaria, Vivax / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D012128:Respiratory Distress Syndrome / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013921:Thrombocytopenia / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology