TY - JOUR AU - Pusparani, Angelita AU - Henrina, Joshua AU - Cahyadi, Alius PY - 2021/05/31 Y2 - 2024/03/29 TI - Co-infection of COVID-19 and recurrent malaria JF - The Journal of Infection in Developing Countries JA - J Infect Dev Ctries VL - 15 IS - 05 SE - Coronavirus Pandemic DO - 10.3855/jidc.13793 UR - https://jidc.org/index.php/journal/article/view/34106884 SP - 625-629 AB - <p>In tropical countries, endemic diseases such as malaria can be challenging to distinguish from COVID-19 because of the similarities in presenting symptoms. Here we reported a case of a young soldier with fever and myalgia six days before admission, with non-productive cough, chills, nausea and vomiting, dizziness, and headache for two days. Previously, he had experienced four times of malaria infection. He had a history of positive non-falciparum malaria rapid diagnostic test (RDT) two days before admission. Significant findings were epigastric tenderness, splenomegaly, and severe thrombocytopenia of 36×10<sup>3 </sup>cells / µL. A naso-oropharyngeal swab examination revealed a positive SARS-CoV-2 infection. Consequently, he was hospitalized for 12 days, successfully treated, and discharged without sequelae. Thus, in light of a pandemic, physicians need to raise the suspicion of concurrent COVID-19 infection with other tropical diseases, especially at-risk patients, because malaria and COVID-19 may share similar manifestations. Moreover, further ancillary testing, such as RDT, may be warranted.</p> ER -