Treatable factors associated with severe anaemia in adults admitted to medical wards in Blantyre, Malawi, an area of high HIV seroprevalence.

Lewis, D. K., Whitty, C. J. M., Walsh, Amanda L., Epino, H., Van Den Broek, Nynke ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8523-2684, Letsky, E. A., Munthali, C., Mukiibi, J. M. and Boeree, M. J. (2005) 'Treatable factors associated with severe anaemia in adults admitted to medical wards in Blantyre, Malawi, an area of high HIV seroprevalence.'. Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, Vol 99, Issue 8, pp. 561-567.

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Abstract

Severe anaemia is a common presentation in non-pregnant adults admitted to hospital in southern Africa. Standard syndromic treatment based on data from the pre-HIV era is for iron deficiency, worms and malaria. We prospectively investigated 105 adults admitted consecutively to medical wards with haemoglobin < 7g/dl. Those with acute blood toss were excluded. Patients were investigated for possible parasitic, bacterial, mycobacterial and nutritional causes of anaemia, including bone marrow aspiration, to identify potentially treatable causes. Seventy-nine per cent of patients were HIV-positive. One-third of patients had tuberculosis, which was diagnosed only by bone marrow culture in 8% of HIV-positive patients. In 21% of individuals bacteria were cultured, with non-typhi salmonella predominating and Streptococcus pneumoniae rare. Iron deficiency, hookworm infection and malaria were not common in HIV-positive anaemic adults, although heavy hookworm infections were found in 6 (27%) of the 22 HIV-negative anaemic adults. In conclusion, conventional treatment for severe anaemia in adults is not appropriate in an area of high HIV prevalence. Occult mycobacterial disease and bacteraemia are common, but iron deficiency is not common in HIV-positive patients. In addition to iron supplements, management of severe anaemia should include investigation for tuberculosis, and consideration of antibiotics active against enterobacteria. (c) 2005 Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	anaemia hiv aids tuberculosis bacterial infections sub-saharan africa human-immunodeficiency-virus typhoidal salmonella bacteremia parasitic infections iron status mortality indicators children disease epidemiology surveillance
Subjects:	WA Public Health > Health Problems of Special Population Groups > WA 395 Health in developing countries WC Communicable Diseases > Infection. Bacterial Infections > Bacterial Infections > WC 200 Bacterial infections (General or not elsewhere classified) WC Communicable Diseases > Virus Diseases > Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome. HIV Infections > WC 503 Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. HIV infections WF Respiratory System > Tuberculosis > WF 200 Tuberculosis (General) WH Hemic and Lymphatic Systems > Hematologic Diseases. Immunologic Factors. Blood Banks > WH 155 Anemia
Faculty: Department:	Groups (2002 - 2012) > Child & Reproductive Health Group
Digital Object Identifer (DOI):	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trstmh.2005.01.002
Depositing User:	Martin Chapman
Date Deposited:	27 Oct 2011 10:38
Last Modified:	06 Feb 2018 13:03
URI:	https://archive.lstmed.ac.uk/id/eprint/1969

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