The American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene
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Am. J. Trop. Med. Hyg. · Jun 2007
Case ReportsPositive blood culture with Plasmodium falciparum: case report.
An adult traveler presented with fever and malaise after returning from Sierra Leone. Young trophozoites of Plasmodium falciparum were seen in a blood smear, with parasitemia being 10%. ⋯ A Giemsa-stained smear from the positive bottle contents yielded numerous pigmented, mature trophozoites of P. falciparum. This case indicates that, in patients with malaria, the growth of P. falciparum in blood cultures can result in "false"-positive blood cultures.
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Am. J. Trop. Med. Hyg. · May 2007
Key differentiating features between scrub typhus and hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome in northern China.
Both scrub typhus and hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) are severely epidemic in northern China and often present with acute undifferentiated fever. To correctly distinguish the two diseases at an early stage, we collected and compared clinical and routine laboratory data of 46 patients with confirmed scrub typhus and 49 patients with confirmed HFRS presenting to the outpatient departments of three town hospitals in northern China. Most patients with HFRS but none of the patients with scrub typhus had hemorrhagic manifestations. ⋯ However, skin eschar, regional lymphadenopathy, and maculopapular rash were more commonly found in patients with scrub typhus. In addition, platelet counts in patients with HFRS were significantly lower than in patients with scrub typhus. These findings will be useful for physicians to distinguish scrub typhus from HFRS.
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Am. J. Trop. Med. Hyg. · Mar 2007
Tafenoquine for the treatment of recurrent Plasmodium vivax malaria.
Tafenoquine was used to treat Plasmodium vivax malaria cases who had previously failed treatment with chloroquine and primaquine. Chloroquine was followed by a loading dose of tafenoquine (200 mg base/day for 3 days) and 200 mg a week was given for 8 weeks. ⋯ A standard course of chloroquine administered with 8 weeks of tafenoquine may be more effective than chloroquine with primaquine (22.5 mg/day for 14 days) in preventing additional P. vivax relapses. Larger studies are required to optimize the combination, but our findings suggest that an extended use of tafenoquine may be required to prevent relapses of primaquine-tolerant strains of P. vivax malaria.
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Am. J. Trop. Med. Hyg. · Feb 2007
Case ReportsEosinophilic meningitis caused by Angiostrongylus cantonensis after ingestion of raw frogs.
Angiostrongylus cantonensis is the most common cause of eosinophilic meningitis in humans after ingestion of raw or inadequately cooked intermediate hosts or food contaminated with infective third-stage larvae. Frogs are known to be a paratenic host of A. cantonensis, but have never been reported as the infectious source of human angiostrongyliasis in Taiwan. We report the first case of eosinophilic meningitis caused by A. cantonensis after ingestion of raw frogs (Rana plancyi).