Detection of multiple invasion of erythrocytes by Plasmodium vivax.

An attempt was made to detect multiple invasion of erythrocytes by Plasmodium vivax in district Shahjahanpur, India. Out of 33,027 P. vivax cases examined, 84 showed multiple invasion of erythrocytes. There were 14 cases who showed more than five rings in an erythrocyte. Maximum invasion of an erythrocyte was observed in a 50 year old male patient, a single erythrocyte was harbouring 12 rings. In 5 patients more than one schizonts were present in single erythrocyte. The number of merozoites per schizont varied from 2-28. In some of the cases erythrocytes were having more than one stage of the malarial parasite. Such variations are probably related to the P. vivax strain found in this area.