Can malaria cause leukopenia?

Can malaria cause leukopenia?

Leucopenia (reduction in WBCs) is common during acute malaria, whereas leucocytosis (increase in WBCs) can occur during severe malaria. Alterations in WBC count have been associated with severity of infection, concurrent infections and response to treatments.

Is there thrombocytopenia in malaria?

Despite not being a criterion for severe malaria, thrombocytopenia is one of the most common complications of both Plasmodium vivax and Plasmodium falciparum malaria.

Can malaria cause pancytopenia?

Pancytopenia as an initial manifestation of acute plasmodium vivax malaria is extremely rare and mainly reported with plasmodium falciparum.

Why does malaria cause low WBC?

White blood cell (WBC) counts during malaria are generally characterized as being low to normal, a phenomenon that is widely thought to reflect localization of leukocytes away from the peripheral circulation and to the spleen and other marginal pools, rather than actual depletion or stasis.

Why does malaria cause leukopenia?

Elsewhere, 94/61.3% anemia, 70/40% thrombocytopenia and 12/4% leukopenia have been reported among adults with malaria or typhoid respectively [14, 18, 19]. Bicytopenia and pancytopenia usually result from direct or indirect decreasing effect on hematopoietic cell production in the bone marrow [20,21,22].

Why does thrombocytopenia happen in malaria?

The results demonstrate that, first, thrombocytopenia is a common feature in human malaria, second, thrombocytopenia induced by malaria is due to shortened life span in the peripheral blood and, third, some interaction is present between platelets and malaria plasmodia or parasitized red cells.

How does malaria affect platelet count?

Platelet abnormalities in malaria are both qualitative and quantitative change. In this study, platelet counts were significantly reduced in malaria-infected people. Thrombocytopenia occurred in 84.9% of malaria-infected patients.