HIV immunosupression and malaria: is there a correlation?

ABSTRACT

The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) epidemic has resulted in an increase in the prevalence of many opportunistic infections and has caused re-emergence of certain diseases in the developing world. In tropical countries, immunosupression due to HIV infection has resulted in changes in the clinical presentation of endemic infections. Although the immune deficiency caused by HIV infection should presumably lead to an increased frequency of clinical malaria in areas with endemic malarial infection, like India, evidence of the association between HIV and malaria in India is scanty, with only a few studies showing a positive correlation. We hereby report a case of concurrent infection with Plasmodium falciparum malaria and human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) in a young male patient.