Do high levels of C-reactive protein in Tanzanian children indicate malaria morbidity

Abstract

Children under 6 years of age living in an area of Tanzania highly endemic for malaria were tested for C-reactive protein (CRP) in order to determine how the acute-phase response is related to malaria in children of different ages and to investigate whether serum CRP concentrations might be useful in the qualification of morbidity in such children. The median CRP level in the 629 finger-prick blood samples measured, 6.0 mg/liter, was much higher than that reported in the blood of children in Europe. The CRP concentration was correlated with recent illness reported by the parents. High CRP levels were most strongly associated with Plasmodium falciparum parasitemia in children under 1 year of age. In older children, lower levels of CRP were associated with parasitemia, and fewer children had increased CRP levels attributable to parasitemia. The levels of malaria-attributable CRP appear to track the acquisition of parasitological and clinical tolerance in this area with very high levels of P. falciparum transmission. Determination of CRP levels should be useful in the rapid assessment of the overall burden of morbidity, especially in infants. In areas where malaria is endemic, CRP associated with increased parasite densities provides an objective measure of malaria-specific morbidity. This would be an efficient approach to estimating malaria morbidity risks from small-scale serological surveys.