Case Report: Sudden Splenic Rupture in a Plasmodium falciparum-Infected Patient

Abstract

Nadeem Kassam,1 Steven Michael,2 Kamran Hameed,1 Athar Ali,2 Salim Surani3 1Department of Internal Medicine, Aga Khan University Medical College East Africa, Dar-es-salaam, Tanzania; 2Department of General Surgery, Aga Khan University Medical College East Africa, Dar-es-salaam, Tanzania; 3Department of Internal Medicine, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USACorrespondence: Nadeem Kassam Email [email protected]: Spontaneous splenic rupture is a rare and life-threatening complication of severe malaria. It demands particular attention since delayed or missed diagnosis can be potentially fatal. The exact incidence is unknown largely due to underreporting. Acute malarial infection accounts for most of the spontaneous splenic rupture. Plasmodium vivax has been associated with the majority of them; however, on rare occasion, other Plasmodium infections have also resulted in splenic rupture. We report the case of a 74-year-old male who was diagnosed with severe malaria caused by Plasmodium falciparum (P. falciparum) infection and developed an acute abdomen while on treatment due to spontaneous splenic rupture which necessitated emergency splenectomy.Keywords: spontaneous splenic rupture, Plasmodium falciparum

Keywords

• spontaneous splenic rupture
• plasmodium falciparum