Journal of Blood & Lymph

Background: Asymptomatic Plasmodium falciparum infection (APFI) resulting from partial immunity is beneficial to individuals living in malaria hyper endemic regions like Cameroon. However APFI sustains not only persistent malaria transmission in the general population but equally accounts for complications related to untreated malaria such as anemia. The aim of this study therefore was to determine the rate of anemia within a population of children with persistent APFI, living in a rural area of Cameroon.
Materials and Methods: A cohort of children from nursery and primary school was monitored for four months in the Bikop Health District of Cameroon. Using pretested questionnaire data was collected from 80 children less than 13 years old during the months of November 2016 and February 2017. Blood samples were collected twice by venipuncture during this period. Children with acute symptoms of malaria, fever or chills and children recently sick or under malaria treatment were excluded. Using malaria rapid diagnostic kits (RDTs) and fluorescent microscopy we screened for malaria positive people and also for the hemoglobin level using a hemoglobinometer.
Results: The median age of participants was 6.5 (4-10). The rate of APFI increased from 41.25% in November 2016 to 65% in February 2017 irrespective of the use of Long Lasting Insecticidal Nets (LLIN). Similarly, the rate of anemia also increased (100% for the 2-5, 100% for the 6-9 years and 92.31% for the 10-13 years old children respectively). The changes in asymptomatic malaria associated anemia correlated positively (r=0.93, p=0.002) with increasing Plasmodium falciparum parasitemia especially with respect to moderate anemia (38.75% in the month of November and 50.00% in the month of February).
Conclusion: Thus asymptomatic Plasmodium falciparum parasitemia could be a driving force behind persistent anemia in school age children in rural areas of Cameroon.

The paucity of report from Odisha regarding prevalence of ABO and Rh blood group promoted us to undertake the present retrospective study. Total number of subjects studied are 45,564. Prevalence rate of A, B and O are 9679 (21.24%), 13881 (30.46%) and 16662 (36.56%) respectively. The subgroup analysis showed of A1 and A2 has also been carried out in the present study. One case of A2 has been described which had antibody to A1 where there was difficulty in arranging the blood transfusion insisting there by the importance of subgroup analysis in the blood bank.

Primary central nervous system (CNS) Hodgkin’s lymphoma is extremely rare. An 82 year old female presented to the Emergency Department after she tripped and hit her head, resulting in a head laceration with no other apparent injuries. Head CT revealed a hyperdense area consistent with either a parieto-occipital hemorrhage or mass. She was transferred to a tertiary care institution, where head MRI revealed a parieto-occipital mass concerning for metastatic disease. No primary source or evidence of metastatic disease were found. The tumor was resected and identified to be a classical Hodgkin’s lymphoma, mixed cellularity type. The patient had no complications and was discharged home. Recommendations for patient’s future treatment included a PET scan and radiotherapy. After a consultation with a lymphoma expert at the NIH, the patient’s diagnosis was changed to an atypical lymphoproliferative disorder with Reed-Sternberg/Hodgkin like cells based on the patient’s history of rheumatoid arthritis treated with an immunosuppressant. A review of the literature revealed several primary CNS Hodgkin’s lymphoma cases that were extremely similar to the patient in this study. This case’s diagnosis as an atypical lymphoproliferative disorder casts doubt on if previously reported cases of CNS primary Hodgkin’s disease were misclassified as the pathological staining of this patient and the immunosuppressant history are extremely similar.