Two cases of COVID-19 presenting with severe malaria: a clinical challenge (case report).

The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has stretched the medical resources of both developed and developing countries. The global focus on COVID-19 may lead to the neglect of other infectious diseases such as malaria which is still endemic in many African countries. Some similarities in malaria and COVID-19 disease presentations may also lead to late diagnosis of either disease which could complicate the effects. Here, we present two cases of a 6-year-old child and a 17-year-old female who presented to a primary care facility in Ghana with a clinical and microscopy-confirmed diagnosis of severe malaria complicated by thrombocytopenia. As their symptoms worsened with associated respiratory complications, nasopharyngeal samples were taken for real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and tested positive for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2). Clinicians, policymakers, and public health practitioners should be alert to the variety of presenting symptoms of COVID-19 and its similarity to malaria to mitigate the risk of mortality from either disease.

COVID-19 and Burkholderia cepacia co-infection in pregnancy associated with fetal demise: a case report.

Since the global pandemic of the 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19), few studies have reported on the relevance of bacteria co-infection on outcome of COVID-19 patients. Little is known about the clinical presentation among pregnant women, mother-to-child transmission, and fetal outcomes. This report shows a 24-year-old nulliparous woman who was 32 weeks pregnant and was admitted to the University Hospital, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Kumasi Ghana with symptoms of fever (40.3°C), cough and breathlessness of two weeks duration. Her nasopharyngeal sample tested positive for Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) and blood culture isolated Burkholderia cepacia. She was given medications but went into pre-term labour and delivered a stillborn baby. This rare case of COVID-19 and Burkholderia cepacia co-infection emphasizes the need for a thorough assessment and appropriate treatment of patients presenting with fever and respiratory symptoms in order to mitigate poor outcome.