What Causes Sudden Drop In The Platelet Count When Diagnosed With Malaria?

Posted on Sat, 2 Jul 2016

Question:
Hi, my cousin was having fever around 5 days back. Plus he had severe migrain. He was suggested a blood check up when fever didnt go down and his body pain sustained for around 2-3 days. Blood report said platelet count was going down but dengue was negative. 2-3 tests were conducted but dengue was negative. He doesnt have fever not shivering nor any body pain now but the platelet count is going down. Now he has been diagnosed with Malaria but no visible symptoms. Cld u pl suggest if this could be an issue since count is still going down and is at 59k now. Is it the time to induce some critical treatment?

Answered by Dr. Hardik Sanghvi (3 hours later)

Brief Answer:
Just take anti malarial treatment and monitor platelet count.

Detailed Answer:
Hi, Dear..
I have gone through your question. I can understand your concern.
He has malaria positive. So he should take anti malarial treatment like Artesunate.

Low platelet count is very common in malaria so don't worry about that. Just monitor platelet count. If it goes below 20,000 then only platelet transfusion is required. Right now nothing to worry.

Hope I have answered your question, if you have doubt then I will be happy to answer.

Thanks for using health care magic.

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Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Arnab Banerjee