Unusual presentation of Plasmodium vivax: a neglected human malaria parasite.

Severe and complicated malaria is usually caused by Plasmodium falciparum malaria (PF) but it has been increasingly observed that Plasmodium vivax malaria (PV), which was otherwise considered to be benign malaria, with a low case-fatality ratio, can also occasionally result in severe disease as with PF malaria. There is an urgent need to re-examine the clinical spectrum and burden of PV so that adequate control measures can be implemented against this emerging but neglected disease. We report a case of severe PV malaria with multi-organ dysfunction.

Hemodialysis through persistent left superior vena cava.

We report a case of end stage renal disease patient who displayed a persistent left superior vena cava (PLSVC) after placement of hemodialysis (HD) catheter through left internal jugular vein, as revealed by routine post-procedure X-ray chest. The diagnosis of PLSVC was confirmed by arterial blood gas, two-dimensional echocardiography, computed tomography thorax and angiographic examination. This anomaly is rather rare; few studies on safety of PLSVC for HD have been reported.

High mortality in critically ill patients infected with 2009 pandemic influenza A (H1N1) with pneumonia and acute kidney injury.

Patients infected with H1N1 virus may develop pneumonia and acute kidney injury (AKI). To determine the epidemiological characteristics, clinical features, management and out-comes of patients with confirmed H1N1 complicated by pneumonia and AKI and treatment with oseltamivir and to identify the prognostic indicators, we studied all the patients with a confirmed diagnosis of H1N1 infection with pneumonia and AKI, using real-time reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assay, between October 2009 and March 2010. H1N1 infection was confirmed in 20 patients with pneumonia and AKI; the mean age was 42.