LEUCOCYTE COUNT AS A MARKER OF SEVERITY IN MALARIA

Title: Leucocyte count as a marker of severity in malaria Objective: To analyze if leucocyte count could aid the diagnosis of malaria and if it could help in judging the severity and thus the prognosis. Material and method: Out of 374 patients admitted to a tertiary hospital with history of fever, 100 subjects diagnosed with malaria were included for the study. Other causes of fever were excluded. Relevant hematological profile was done and patients were categorized to those with leucopenia( <4000cells/mm3), leucocytosis ( >11000cells/mm3) and normal count. The results were compared by chi- square test (x2). Results: Of the 69 subjects with vivax malaria, 21.7% had leucopenia while 7.2% had leucocytosis and of the 31 subjects with falciparum malaria , 16.2% had leucopenia while 6.45% had leucocytosis. Presence of leucopenia particularly in vivax malaria was significantly associated with anemia( p< 0.001) and thrombocytopenia (p<0.0027) when compared to those having leucocytosis and those with normal leucocyte count.Conclusion: Whether leucopenia can prove to be a predictor for vivax malaria needs further large scale studies. However we propose leucopenia may be considered along with anemia and thrombocytopenia in prognosticating ,particularly vivax malaria.