DOI: 10.36347/sjams.2015.v03i02.046

Pages: 761-767

In spite of various successful measures in vector control and new treatment modalities, India still suffers from high malaria burden. Various studies have projected data of malaria morbidity and mortality though at variance with official figures with reports of 205 000 malaria deaths /year and 1·8% cumulative probability of death from malaria before age 70 years. All patients with Falciparum malaria were evaluated for pulmonary manifestations. Those with lung involvement were further differentiated into the type pf involvement. Out of 548 cases of malaria 42 patients presented with respiratory symptoms in the form of cough, dyspnoea, expectoration, and haemoptysis. The clinical presentations were in the form of bronchitis (6 cases), pneumonia (9 cases), and Acute respiratory distress syndrome (7 cases). Four out of 7 patients of ARDS died. Amongst various malarial complications, pulmonary involvement is a serious one because of high mortality associated with its complications. Even though cough has been described as a common feature in pulmonary involvement of malaria, the sinister complications are encountered more with the falciparum variety. We present a retrospective data analytical study of pulmonary involvement with falciparum malaria in hospitalized patients in our institution over a period of five years.