Blood count changes in malaria patients according to blood groups (ABO/Rh) and sickle cell trait.

INTRODUCTION: Introduction: Malaria continues to be the leading cause of hospitalization and death in Angola, a country in sub- Saharan Africa. In 2023, in the first quarter, 2,744,682 cases were registered, and of these 2,673 patients died due to malaria disease. Previous studies have shown that the ABO blood group can affect the progression of malaria to severe conditions after P. falciparum infection, while the sickle cell gene offers relative protection. OBJECTIVE: We investigated changes in the blood count according to blood groups (ABO/Rh) and sickle cell trait in patients with malaria in Luanda, capital of Angola. METHODOLOGY: This was a longitudinal, prospective and observational study with 198 patients hospitalized for malaria. RESULTS: Of the 198 patients studied, 13(6.6%) were ABRh(+), 4(2.0%) were ARh(-), 49(24.7%) were ARh(+), 42(21, 2%) were BRh (+), 5(2.5%) were ORh(-) and 85(42.9%) were ORh(+). For sickle cell trait, 145(73.2%) were AA, 37(18.7%) were AS and 16(8.1%) were SS. No statistical relationship was observed between age group, sex, parasitemia, clinical picture, hematocrit, MCV, HCM, MCHC, leukocytes, NEUT, LINF and PTL values with blood groups (p<0.05), but there was a relationship between values of hemoglobin and ABO/Rh blood groups (p>0.05). There was no relationship between age, parasitemia, clinical condition, MCV, HCM and MCHC values, leukocytes, NEUT and LINF with sickle cell trait (p<0.05), but there was a relationship between sex, hemoglobin and PTL and sickle cell values. sickle cell trait (p>0.05). CONCLUSION: It is imperative to differentiate patients with malaria based on blood groups and sickle cell trait, taking into account mainly the blood count parameters that demonstrate that there are patients who, depending on blood group or sickle cell trait, may react weakly to malaria infection regardless of the degree of parasitemia and medical prognosis.

Early Evidence of Circulating SARS-CoV-2 in Unvaccinated and Vaccinated Measles Patients, September 2019-February 2020.

BACKGROUND: The global emergence of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has challenged healthcare and rapidly spread over the globe. Early detection of new infections is crucial in the control of emerging diseases. Evidence of early recorded COVID-19 cases outside China has been documented in various countries. In this study, we aimed to identify the time of SARS-CoV-2 infection circulation by retrospectively analyzing sera of measles patients, weeks before the reported first COVID-19 cases in Angola. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We examined the humoral response against SARS-CoV-2 by using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA)-based assay on a combined two-step sandwich enzyme immunoassay method. In total, we received 568 study patients with blood specimens collected from 23 September 2019 to 28 February 2020, 442 sera samples that met the criteria of the study were withdrawn and selected from the overall 568 received samples. In this study, we considered seropositives, patients who tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 immunoglobulin G (IgG) and M (IgM) antibodies with the index value >1. RESULTS: Of the 442 sera samples that met the criteria of the study, 204 were measles seropositive. Forty out of 204 were confirmed reactive to SARS-CoV-2 viral proteins using IgG and IgM more than 2 weeks before the first reported case in Angola. The humoral response analysis showed significant differences (p = 0.01) between the IgG and IgM indexes in the unvaccinated measles patients. Similarly, a significant difference (p = 0.001) was seen between the IgG and IgM indexes in the vaccinated measles patients. CONCLUSION: Here, using the humoral response analysis, we report the identification of early circulation SARS-CoV-2 infection weeks before the first recognized cases in the Republic of Angola.

Coinfection between SARS-CoV-2 and vector-borne diseases in Luanda, Angola.

Co-epidemics happening simultaneously can generate a burden on healthcare systems. The co-occurrence of SARS-CoV-2 with vector-borne diseases (VBD), such as malaria and dengue in resource-limited settings represents an additional challenge to the healthcare systems. Herein, we assessed the coinfection rate between SARS-CoV-2 and VBD to highlight the need to carry out an accurate diagnosis and promote timely measures for these infections in Luanda, the capital city of Angola. This was a cross-sectional study conducted with 105 subjects tested for the SARS-CoV-2 and VBD with a rapid detection test in April 2021. The participants tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 (3.80%), malaria (13.3%), and dengue (27.6%). Low odds related to testing positivity to SARS-CoV-2 or VBD were observed in participants above or equal to 40 years (odds ratio [OR]: 0.60, p = 0.536), while higher odds were observed in male (OR: 1.44, p = 0.392) and urbanized areas (OR: 3.78, p = 0.223). The overall co-infection rate between SARS-CoV-2 and VBD was 11.4%. Our findings showed a coinfection between SARS-CoV-2 with malaria and dengue, which could indicate the need to integrate the screening for VBD in the SARS-CoV-2 testing algorithm and the adjustment of treatment protocols. Further studies are warranted to better elucidate the relationship between COVID-19 and VBD in Angola.