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Publication Details
AFRICAN RESEARCH NEXUS
SHINING A SPOTLIGHT ON AFRICAN RESEARCH
immunology and microbiology
Evaluation of c-reactive protein and haptoglobin as malaria episode markers in an area of high transmission in Africa
Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, Volume 88, No. 2, Year 1994
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Description
Field studies of malaria in endemic areas frequently use the presence or levels of parasitaemia, together with the measurement of fever, as the primary criteria with which to identify cases. However, since malaria cases do not always present with measurable fever, and since asymptomatic parasitaemia occurs, additional episode markers might be useful epidemiological tools. We have measured the C-reactive protein and haptoglobin levels in paediatric patients presenting to a village health post in the Kilombero District in Tanzania and in convalescent sera from the same patients, in order to evaluate these acute-phase reactants as alternative markers of Plasmodium falciparum episodes. Among afebrile patients, C-reactive protein levels were highly correlated with parasite density. High C-reactive protein levelsare therefore probably indicative of recent clinical malaria episodes in currently afebrile individuals with high parasite densities. An appropriate case definition for malaria in epidemiological studies in endemic areas might thereforebe hyperparasitaemia accompanied by either, or both, measurable fever and raised C-reactive protein levels. This wouldgive less biased estimates of the overall burden of malaria morbidity than does a definition which requires measurablefever. Levels of haptoglobin were highly negatively correlated with parasitaemia, but did not appear to be useful episode markers because this correlation was probably not related to acute morbidity. However, haptoglobin can be useful to assess at community level the impact of interventions on parasitaemia. © 1994 Oxford University Press.
Authors & Co-Authors
Hurt, Nicole
Tanzania, Ifakara
Ifakara Health Institute
Smith, Thomas A.
Tanzania, Ifakara
Ifakara Health Institute
Switzerland, Allschwil
Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute Swiss Tph
Tanner, Marcel
Tanzania, Ifakara
Ifakara Health Institute
Switzerland, Allschwil
Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute Swiss Tph
Mwankusye, Samuel
Tanzania, Ifakara
Ifakara Health Institute
Bordmann, Gérard
Switzerland, Allschwil
Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute Swiss Tph
Weiss, Niklaus A.
Switzerland, Allschwil
Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute Swiss Tph
Teuscher, Thomas M.
Tanzania, Ifakara
Ifakara Health Institute
Statistics
Citations: 63
Authors: 7
Affiliations: 2
Identifiers
Doi:
10.1016/0035-9203(94)90287-9
ISSN:
00359203
e-ISSN:
18783503
Research Areas
Infectious Diseases
Study Locations
Tanzania