Volume 13, Number 1—January 2007
Research
Tickborne Relapsing Fever Diagnosis Obscured by Malaria, Togo
Annika Nordstrand*, Ignas Bunikis*, Christer Larsson*, Kodjo Tsogbe†, Tom G. Schwan‡, Mikael Nilsson§, and Sven Bergström*
Table 3
Coinfection with malaria and relapsing fever caused by Borrelia and treatment in patients in northern and southern Togo with fever, 2002–2004
| Region, group | Malaria infection,* no. positive/
no. tested (%) | Borrelia infected† and treated for malaria,
no. positive/no. tested (%) | Borrelia infections effectively treated, no. positive/no. tested (%) | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| All patients | Borrelia infected | Malaria positive | Malaria negative‡ | ||
| Northern | |||||
| Children | 34/96 (35.4) | 4/8 (50) | 4/4 (100) | 1/4 (25) | 0/8 |
| Southern | |||||
| Children | 46/68 (67.6) | 2/3 (66.7) | 1/2 (50) | 0/1 | 1/3 (33.3) |
| Adults | 35/80 (43.8) | 1/10 (10) | 0/1 | 1/6 (16.6) | 0/7 |
| Total | 81/148 (54.7) | 3/13 (23.1) | 1/3 (33.3) | 1/7 (14.3) | 1/10 (10) |
| All | 154/244 (63.1) | 7/21 (33.3) | 5/7 (71.4) | 2/11 (18.2) | 1/18 (5.6) |
*Determined by microscopy of Giemsa-stained blood smears.
†Determined by positive PCR result and Borrelia species identification by sequence in blood. Three malaria-negative adults were not included because treatment information was not available.
‡Values represent patients treated only for malaria. Two of these 4 patients were treated for malaria in combination with drugs for treating helminth infections.
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