Review
The anaemia of Plasmodium vivax malaria
1 Global Health Division, Menzies School of Health Research, PO Box 41096, Casuarina, NT 0811, Australia
2 Centre for Tropical Medicine, Nuffield Department of Clinical Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
3 Division of Medicine, Royal Darwin Hospital, Darwin, NT, Australia
4 INSERM - UPMC, (Paris 6 University) UMRs945, F-75013, Paris, France
5 Department of Parasitology, Pitié-Salpétrière Hospital, Assistance Publique – Hôpitaux de Paris, F-75013, Paris, France
6 Institut Pasteur, Unité d’Immunologie Moléculaire des Parasites, Département de Parasitologie Mycologie, F-75015, Paris, France
7 Mimika District Health Authority, Timika, Papua, Indonesia
8 Papuan Health and Community Development Foundation, Timika, Papua, Indonesia
9 Faculty of Tropical Medicine, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand
Malaria Journal 2012, 11:135 doi:10.1186/1475-2875-11-135
Published: 27 April 2012Abstract
Plasmodium vivax threatens nearly half the world’s population and is a significant impediment to achievement of the millennium development goals. It is an important, but incompletely understood, cause of anaemia. This review synthesizes current evidence on the epidemiology, pathogenesis, treatment and consequences of vivax-associated anaemia. Young children are at high risk of clinically significant and potentially severe vivax-associated anaemia, particularly in countries where transmission is intense and relapses are frequent. Despite reaching lower densities than Plasmodium falciparum, Plasmodium vivax causes similar absolute reduction in red blood cell mass because it results in proportionately greater removal of uninfected red blood cells. Severe vivax anaemia is associated with substantial indirect mortality and morbidity through impaired resilience to co-morbidities, obstetric complications and requirement for blood transfusion. Anaemia can be averted by early and effective anti-malarial treatment.
