Haematological aspect of malaria in a population based hospital, Saudi Arabia.

In Saudi Arabia, although the malaria is nearly extinct from urban areas, anophelines breeding however still exists in the coastal and oasis regions of the Kingdom. Imported cases of malaria are also seen as the country continues to employ a large expatriate work force from malarious countries. Data were analysed on 69 malaria patients (35 Saudis; 34 non-Saudis) to assess the haematological and clinical manifestations. Two types of malaria, P. falciparum and P. vivax were mainly present. Anemia was the significant finding in patients with P. falciparum (P = 0.0060). Approximately (32/69) half of the patients had Hb < or = 12 g/dl and among these included 15 cases (22%) with Hb < than 9 g/dl. White blood counts were near normal or mildly decreased despite of high fever. Moderate to severe thrombocytopenia (platelets < or = 160 x 10(9)/L) was seen in 57% of the patients and in 10 cases the counts were appreciably low (< 60 x 10(9)/L). Thrombocytopenia correlated with splenomegaly. The palpable spleen was felt in approximately half of patients with P. falciparum. Findings of this study suggest that in Saudi Arabia we will continue to see malaria cases occasionally, however it is important to become aware of the treatment, as many patients who originated from the third world malarious zones, failed to respond to chloroquine therapy.