Perforated duodenal ulcer in a child: An unusual complication of malaria

Abstract

Gastrointestinal symptoms such as dyspepsia, vomiting, diarrhea, hepatitis, gastrointestinal bleed, abdominal pain, subacute intestinal obstruction like presentation and acute abdomen are common in acute malaria. However, perforated duodenal ulcer (PDU) complicating acute malaria in a child is a rare occurrence and uncommonly heard of. The exact mechanism of duodenal ulcer perforation in malaria is not clear due to the paucity of reported cases, and it may be multifactorial in etiology. The treatment of PDU in children is similar to adults that is surgical by omental patch repair of the perforation. We present an unusual case of PDU in a pediatric patient of malaria. The search of English literature revealed only one more reported case of PDU associated with malaria.

Keywords

• Acute malaria complications
• perforated duodenal ulcer
• peptic ulcers in children
• omental patch repair