title: Severe and benign Plasmodium vivax malaria in Emberá (Amerindian) children and adolescents from an endemic municipality in Western Colombia.
abstract: Malaria in children is still an important public health problem in endemic areas of South-East Asia and Latin America. Certain forms of the disease, such as Plasmodium vivax severe malaria, are still neglected. This descriptive study assessed the frequency of severe and benign P. vivax infection in Emberá children (<14 years of age) from an endemic municipality in Colombia in 2013, using the WHO criteria. During 2013, 270 Emberá children presented 349 episodes of malaria. From them, 22 (8.1%) presented at least one of the criteria for severe malaria. Some patients with P. vivax presented with severe malaria (severe anemia, renal dysfunction, respiratory distress and seizure). Mixed malaria cases presented more complications than those with monoinfection (OR=5.535; 95%CI 1.81-16.9). In Colombia, few data are available about severe P. vivax malaria in children, especially in the Amerindian ethnic groups. Mixed infections were associated with increased risk of severe malaria. At the same time, detailed and prospective studies are needed to measure the real impact of severe vivax malaria, as was evidenced in this paper.
authors.affiliation: Grupo de Investigación Farmacoepidemiología y Farmacovigilancia, Faculty of Health Sciences, Universidad Tecnológica de Pereira, Pereira, Risaralda, Colombia; Public Health and Infection Research Group, Faculty of Health Sciences, Universidad Tecnológica de Pereira, Pereira, Risaralda, Colombia; ESE Hospital San Rafael, Pueblo Rico, Risaralda, Colombia.
authors.forename: Diego A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Medina-Morales
authors.affiliation: Grupo de Investigación Farmacoepidemiología y Farmacovigilancia, Faculty of Health Sciences, Universidad Tecnológica de Pereira, Pereira, Risaralda, Colombia.
authors.forename: Estefanía
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Montoya-Franco
authors.affiliation: Grupo de Investigación Farmacoepidemiología y Farmacovigilancia, Faculty of Health Sciences, Universidad Tecnológica de Pereira, Pereira, Risaralda, Colombia.
authors.forename: Viviana D P
authors.initials: VD
authors.lastname: Sanchez-Aristizabal
authors.affiliation: Grupo de Investigación Farmacoepidemiología y Farmacovigilancia, Faculty of Health Sciences, Universidad Tecnológica de Pereira, Pereira, Risaralda, Colombia; Audifarma S.A., Pereira, Risaralda, Colombia.
authors.forename: Jorge E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Machado-Alba
authors.affiliation: Public Health and Infection Research Group, Faculty of Health Sciences, Universidad Tecnológica de Pereira, Pereira, Risaralda, Colombia; Committee on Zoonoses and Haemorrhagic Fevers, Asociación Colombiana de Infectología (ACIN), Bogotá, DC, Colombia; Organización Latinoamericana para el Fomento de la Investigación en Salud (OLFIS), Bucaramanga, Santander, Colombia. Electronic address: arodriguezm@utp.edu.co.
authors.forename: Alfonso J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Rodríguez-Morales
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000740:Anemia / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000473:pathology; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002947:Cities / Q000453:epidemiology; D060085:Coinfection / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000473:pathology; D003105:Colombia / Q000453:epidemiology; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D019353:Endemic Diseases; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D016780:Malaria, Vivax / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000473:pathology*; D008297:Male; D015995:Prevalence; D051437:Renal Insufficiency / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000473:pathology; D012128:Respiratory Distress Syndrome / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000473:pathology; D012307:Risk Factors; D012640:Seizures / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000473:pathology
keywords: Colombia; Epidemiology; Malaria; Pediatrics; Plasmodium vivax