DOI: 10.36347/sjams.2016.v04i02.051

Pages: 575-581

Haematological abnormalities are very common in malaria and involve one or more cell lines. A variety of haematological alterations like anaemia, leukocytosis or leukopenia, thrombocytopenia have been reported in malaria. All adult febrile patients diagnosed as malaria according to WHO criteria were included. Haematological parameters like haemoglobin %, red cell distribution width (RDW), total leukocyte count and platelet count were studied as index tests. In results Significant haematological dysfunction was noted in malaria amongst the index tests. 44 (88%) of the cases had thrombocytopenia. This observation was statistically extremely significant (p less than 0.0001). Anaemia was detected in 41(82%) of the patients. The RDW was higher in 80 % of the malaria patients with a p < 0.001. In concusion significant haematological dysfunction occurs in malaria. The presence of thrombocytopenia, leucopenia, anaemia and high RDW increase the probability of malaria.