Siolim woman died of plasmodium vivax: Report

MOSQUITO MENACE
Siolim woman died of plasmodium vivax: Report
Preetu Nair | TNN

Panaji: A new report has revealed that the woman from Siolim had died of extensive parasitemia of Plasmodium vivax parasite that had multiplied in the red blood cells and internal organs like the liver, kidney, spleen and the lining of the uterus that ultimately led to the destruction of the organs.
This report is based on the conclusion arrived at by the doctors after comparing the post-mortem pathological examination report conducted by Goa Medical College’s pathological department and the DNA test reports, using Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR), conducted by a team from the National Institute of Malaria Research, an autonomous organisation under the Indian Council of Medical Research.
“There was immunal suppression in the woman, due to which the white blood corpuscles (WBC) couldn’t act against the parasite,” said GMC’s pathology department head Dr Wiseman Pinto.
Doctors after constantly studying the hystopathological slides and blood slides of the woman, who died from suspected P-vivax infection, realized that excess acid formation in the blood and tissue led to the growth of the parasite in the body. Even the NIMR report confirmed that the woman had died of P-vivax and they ruled out falciparum co-infection in the patient.
“Now it is not necessary that P-vivax with falciparum kills. But even P-vivax can kill. The woman died as the P-vivax parasite destroyed her organs as her immunity was low,” said Dr Pinto. Scientists across the world, including India, are waking up to Plasmodium vivax’s increasing notoriety. P-vivax and plasmodium falciparum are the two major strains of malaria which affect humans globally. With P-vivax’s changing clinical profile the doctors are now emphasizing on treatment and diagnosis.
So far deaths due to P-vivax are a rare. “The parasite and the insect has outwitted man. This case has brought to the focus that P-vivax can also affect the liver, kidney, spleen and even lungs, which were unheard of till now. But the parasite didn’t affect the brain or the heart,” added Dr Pinto. The P-vivax strain was recently discovered after pathological tests on a 25-year-old woman from North Goa had died following multiple organ failure.
2008 Jul 29 Times Of India Goa