Investigation of Malaria among Patients of Febrile Illness and Co-Infection with Leptospirosis in Andaman and Nicobar Islands, India

Abstract

Malaria and leptospirosis are endemic in Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Malaria is common in a tribal area called Nicobar district and leptospirosis is mostly confined to South, North and Middle Andaman district. There has been an outbreak of febrile illness in Nancowry groups of Island under Nicobar district suspecting malaria. Clinically there were cases which also resemble leptospirosis. Malaria and leptospirosis are the common infection of tropics and their co-infection occurs. Blood samples were collected from patients with the history of febrile illness attending Community Health Centre (CHC), Nancowry, Nicobar district. A total of 132 blood samples were collected in between the age group of 18 to 53 years. The clinical specimens were subjected to rapid test malaria and Microscopic Agglutination Test (MAT) for leptospirosis following standard procedure and manufacturer instructions. The subjects were labourers from West Bengal who has come to Nancowry groups of Island for re-habitation. Ninety four (71%) samples were malaria positive among 132 patients. Plasmodium falciparum infection was seen in 34 (36%) cases followed by plasmodium vivαx in 12 (13%) cases. Among 132 samples anti-leptospiral antibody by MAT was observed in 12 (9%) patients. In eight (6%) samples malaria and leptospirosis co-infection was observed and vomiting was found to be the common symptom in both the infection. In the present study it has been observed malaria and leptospirosis co-infection exists in malaria endemic zone. This gives an idea that in malaria endemic zone a malaria positive case cannot be the sole cause of the infection and differential diagnosis can be done for other febrile illness cases. © 2014 Academic Journals Inc.