A 38-year-old woman presents with fever after returning from Papua Indonesia. Blood film shows P. falciparum with multiple mature schizonts visible on...

Question

A 38-year-old woman presents with fever after returning from Papua Indonesia. Blood film shows P. falciparum with multiple mature schizonts visible on the peripheral blood film. This is unusual. What does the presence of peripheral schizonts suggest?

Accepted Answer

High parasite burden and severe disease - peripheral P. falciparum schizonts indicate failure of deep vascular sequestration, correlating with very high parasitaemia and poor prognosis

Answer

Normal finding in all Plasmodium species

Answer

The patient has P. vivax, not P. falciparum

Answer

Laboratory contamination

Answer

The patient is improving

uk-dtmh MCQ (SBA): Peripheral P. falciparum Schizonts

A 38-year-old woman presents with fever after returning from Papua Indonesia. Blood film shows P. falciparum with multiple mature schizonts visible on the peripheral blood film. This is unusual. What does the presence of peripheral schizonts suggest?