NATIONAL JOURNAL OF MEDICAL RESEARCH print ISSN: 2249 4995│eISSN: 2277 8810 Volume 3│Issue 2│Apr – June 2013 Page 130 ORIGINAL ARTICLE HEMATOLOGICAL CHANGES IN P.FALCIPARUM & P.VIVAX MALARIA Ameekumari Patel 1 , Sudha Jain 2 , Bhavin Patel 3 , Bhautik Modi 4 Authors’ Affiliation: 1 Resident, 2 Associate Professor, Deparment of Pathology, 3 Assistent Professor, Department of Medicine, 4 Resident, Department of Community Medicine, Surat Municipal Institute of Medical Education and Research (SMIMER), Surat, Gujarat Correspondence: Dr.Ameekumari Patel, Email: doctoramipatel@gmail.com ABSTRACT Introduction: Malaria continues to be a great health problem in some of the most populated areas of the world & continues to cause significant morbidity and mortality worldwide. The hematological abnormalities that have been reported to consistently with malaria are anemia, thrombocytopenia, atypical lymphocytosis and infrequently disseminated intravascular coagulation. Methodology: This cross sectional study was conducted in central hospital laboratory of a tertiary care hospital of Surat, Gujarat. The laboratory confirmed cases of malaria from August to October, 2012 were included in the study. Hematological profile of different spices of malaria was compared. Results: The difference in mean platelet count according to severity of infection was highly statistically significant according to ANOVA test both for P.Vivax and P.Falciparum. Platelet counts show decreasing trend according to severity of infection. Difference in the mean haemoglobin level and mean platelet counts of P.Vivax cases and P.Falciparum cases was also statistically significant. Conclusion: The low level of platelet can be used as predictor of severity of the infection. And thus, prediction of the hematological changes enables the clinician to establish an effective and early therapeutic intervention in order to prevent the occurrence of major complications. Keywords: Plasmodium Falciparum, Plasmodium Vivax, Haematological Profile, Malaria INTRODUCTION Malaria is well-known to human being since centuries; it is a disease of tropical and subtropical countries particularly Africa and Asia. It is caused by protozoan Plasmodium, transmitted by female anopheles mosquitoes, which typically bite between dusk and dawn. Malaria continues to be a great health problem in some of the most populated areas of the world & continues to cause significant morbidity and mortality worldwide. As per world malaria report 2009, half of the world’s population is at risk of malaria and an estimated 243 million cases led to nearly 8,63,000 deaths in 2008. 1 In India, total 1.49 million malaria cases had occur. Out of which, 0.77 million (52.12%) cases were of P.Falciparum in year 2010. Annual parasite infection (API) of India for the year 2010 was 1.3. Annual Blood Smear Examination Rate (ABER) of India for the year 2010 was 9.21. Hematological changes, which are the most common systemic complications, play a significant role in these serious complications. The hematological abnormalities that have been reported to consistently companion which comprise anemia, thrombocytopenia, atypical lymphocytosis and infrequently disseminated intravascular coagulation. 2 Leucopenia, leucocytosis, Neutopenia, Neutrophilia, Eosinophilia and monocytosis also have been reported. 3,4 In tropical countries like India, the majorities of the shared complications commencing due to malarial consequences is from hyperparasiteamia. Mortality is very high (10- 30%) in complicated P. falciparum infection. This study aimed to evaluate and determine of various hematological alterations in patients infected with malaria and to add more detailed information, especially from these highly affected zones. The level of parasitemia was also assessed and correlated with these haematolologic changes. METHODOLOGY The present comparative cross sectional study was conducted in central hospital laboratory of a tertiary care hospital named Surat Municipal Institute of Medical Education and Research (SMIMER) of Surat, Gujarat. The laboratory confirmed cases of malaria