title: A case of falciparum malaria: Acute hearing loss as the initial symptom.
abstract: A 49-year-old healthy woman, who returned from Burkina Faso, visited an ear, nose, and throat clinic with complaints of left hearing loss, tinnitus, and dizziness. Pure tone audiometry demonstrated bilateral mild sensorineural hearing loss. Three days later, she was transported in an ambulance to a general hospital due to high fever and disturbance of consciousness. Plasmodium falciparum was found in the peripheral blood smear. After diagnosing severe falciparum malaria with cerebral involvement, quinine hydrochloride, clindamycin, and artemether/lumefantrine were administered. After recovery of consciousness, she was followed up at our department with bilateral hearing loss. After taking prednisolone for 10 days, there was improvement to normal hearing level. Furthermore, no neurologic sequelae were observed. In this case, acute sensorineural hearing loss occurred before administration of the antimalarial drug. Therefore, hearing loss was not drug-induced, but was caused by the malaria itself. In patients with acute hearing loss and who have history of travel to tropical regions, physicians should include malaria and other causes of acute deafness in the differential diagnoses.
authors: Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Dokkyo Medical University Koshigaya Hospital, Saitama, Japan.
authors: Takeshi
authors: T
authors: Tada
authors: Department of Laboratory Medicine and Infection Control, Dokkyo Medical University Koshigaya Hospital, Saitama, Japan.
authors: Akihiro
authors: A
authors: Hitani
authors: Department of Laboratory Medicine and Infection Control, Dokkyo Medical University Koshigaya Hospital, Saitama, Japan.
authors: Natsue Hosono
authors: NH
authors: Honda
authors: Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Dokkyo Medical University Hospital, Tochigi, Japan.
authors: Shinichi
authors: S
authors: Haruna
authors: Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Dokkyo Medical University Koshigaya Hospital, Saitama, Japan.
authors: Tsuyoshi
authors: T
authors: Yoshimura
authors: Department of Laboratory Medicine and Infection Control, Dokkyo Medical University Koshigaya Hospital, Saitama, Japan.
authors: Kosuke
authors: K
authors: Haruki
authors: Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Dokkyo Medical University Koshigaya Hospital, Saitama, Japan. Electronic address: tanakay@dokkyomed.ac.jp.
authors: Yasuhiro
authors: Y
authors: Tanaka
mesh_terms: D000962:Antimalarials / Q000627:therapeutic use; D002981:Clindamycin / Q000627:therapeutic use; D005260:Female; D006319:Hearing Loss, Sensorineural / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000469:parasitology*; D006801:Humans; D016778:Malaria, Falciparum / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000469:parasitology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D010963:Plasmodium falciparum / Q000187:drug effects; D011803:Quinine / Q000627:therapeutic use; D014195:Travel
chemical_list: D000962:Antimalarials; D002981:Clindamycin; D011803:Quinine
keywords: ABR; Cerebral malaria; Deafness; MRI