Clinical aspects of hemolysis in patients with P. vivax malaria treated with primaquine, in the Brazilian Amazon

This report describes the development of hemolysis in eighteen glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficient patients treated for Plasmodium vivax malaria with chloroquine and primaquine. The most frequent findings accompanying hemolysis were fever and leukocytosis, in addition to anemia requiring red blood cell transfusion, and development of acute renal failure. Hemolysis in patients using primaquine is not infrequent and contributes to the morbidity of infection caused by Plasmodium vivax.