The Effect of Plasmodium falciparum Hyperparasitaemia on Renal Function Tests

Abstract

Pf infection maybe a cause of acute renal failure, whereas renal failure appears to be a common complication of severe malaria in adults, it seldom occurs in children. A prospective study conducted during the period of February 2003 to May 2004, in which plasma levels of urea, creatinine, sodium and potassium of 40 malarious patients infected with Plasmodium falciparum were compared with and 30 apparently healthy individuals (non-malarious) as a control group their ages matched between 15-55 years. Both controls and patients were selected randomly from Gazira State Wad Medani teaching Hospital emergency, only urea was significantly raised in patients (33.5 ± 9.7 mg/dl versus 28.6 ± 8.5 P<0.05), whereas plasma levels of creatinine, sodium and potassium had showed non significant difference in malarious patients: (0.9± 0.3 mg/dl versus 0.8±0.1, P>0.05) for plasma creatinine . (137.3± 7.2 mmol / versus, 138.5±5.6 P>0.05) for plasma sodium. (3.56 ± 0.6 versus 3.56 ± 0.6 mmol/l, P. >0.05) for plasma potassium. This study concluded that there was no significant relationship between falciparum malaria hyperparasitaemia and acute renal failure.