Abstract

Despite intensive efforts over the last century to understand and control malaria, it remains a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in humans; An estimated 300-500 million people contract malaria each year, resulting in 1.5-2.7 million deaths annually.1-2 Malaria is caused by intraerythrocytic protozoa of the genus Plasmodium, with humans being infected by one or more of the following species: Plasmodium falciparum, Plasmodium vivax, Plasmodium ovale, Plasmodium malariae, and Plasmodium knowlesi. Plasmodia are primarily transmitted by the bite of an infected female Anopheles mosquito. Infections can also occur through exposure to infected blood products and by congenital transmission.2 P. falciparum is responsible for the majority of severe and fatal malaria.3 As the term 'benign tertian malaria' implies, vivax malaria is usually an uncomplicated disease that runs a benign course and is rarely fatal.4 This clinical paradigm has been challenged recently by numerous reports of symptoms and signs of severe disease, and even deaths due to P. vivax monoinfections.4-10