[Tropical malaria and sickle-cell anemia: a tropical surprise]

Abstract

A case of a very sick 2.5-year-old, Ghanese boy with fever, who fell in coma in the emergency room, is described. He was diagnosed as having blackwater fever (BWF) on clinical grounds. He also had a sickle cell anaemia. A short review of BWF is given and we discuss possible causes of the anaemia in this case. The anaemia in sickle cell anaemia is described and it appears that malaria tropica can lead to a severe hemolytic sickle cell crises. We discuss the combination of sickle cell anaemia and malaria tropica.