Discriminating malaria from dengue fever in endemic areas: clinical and biological criteria, prognostic score and utility of the C-reactive protein: a retrospective matched-pair study in French Guiana.

Background: Dengue and malaria are two major public health concerns in tropical settings. Although the pathogeneses of these two arthropod-borne diseases differ, their clinical and biological presentations are unspecific. During dengue epidemics, several hundred patients with fever and diffuse pain are weekly admitted at the emergency room.

Is dengue and malaria co-infection more severe than single infections? A retrospective matched-pair study in French Guiana.

Background: Dengue and malaria are two major arthropod-borne infections in tropical areas, but dual infections were only described for the first time in 2005. Reports of these concomitant infections are scarce and there is no evidence of more severe clinical and biological pictures than single infections.

Methods: To compare co-infections to dengue alone and malaria alone, a retrospective matched-pair study was conducted between 2004 and 2010 among patients admitted in the emergency department of Cayenne hospital, French Guiana.