INCIDENCE OF FILARIASIS AS A CO-INFECTION IN MALARIA PATIENTS COMING FROM THAI-MYANMAR BORDER BETWEEN 1995-1997

Abstract

Concomitant infection with malaria and filariasis is known to occur in animals and the coinfection appears to lessen the severity of malaria. We report here the incidence of co-infection with filariasis among 4, 201 malaria patients admitted to the Bangkok Hospital for Tropical Diseases, Mahidol University, Thailand, between 1995 and 1997. There were eight patients (0.2%) with microfilariae (all Wuchereria bancrofti) in the peripheral blood smear. Four of the 8 patients had falciparum malaria and two patients among this group had cerebral malaria which responded to treatment without any long term sequelae. The rest four patients, three had vivax malaria while the last one had uncomplicated mixed infection of falciparum and vivax malaria. Filariasis was asymptomatic in all patients and cured with diethylcarbamazine. The eight patients resided along the Thai-Myanmar border, which is known to be endemic for both diseases. Our findings indicate the existence of co-infection of malaria and filariasis in Thailand, especially among patients from the Thai-Myanmar border. From this small number of patients, it is difficult to conclude that filariasis affects the severity of malaria. However, the data does emphasize that early diagnosis and early treatment of both infections is possible.