Case study

1. Gerald A. Capraro, Ph.D., D(ABMM)
Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center
“Mal”feasance in the Bloodstream

2. Patient History
• 29 month old female from Togo, a small country of the West
Coast of Africa.
• Emigrated to US with parents (father US military) about 2 weeks
ago (mid-July).
• Treated for malaria (treatment unknown, species unknown)
about 3 months prior.

3. Fever in a returning traveler
• Bacterial.
– Salmonella typhi.
– Rickettsial diseases.
• Viral.
– Yellow Fever.
– Dengue Fever.
• Parasites.
– Malaria.

4. Testing for Malaria
A tube of blood is
collected and sent to
the laboratory
The blood is put onto a
microscope slide, stained
and a microbiologist looks at
the blood smear under a
microscope to detect RBCs
infected with parasites

5. Multiply infected RBC
Photo Credit: LSU Health- Shreveport

6. Malaria
• Caused by several species of the Plasmodium genus of
parasites.
• Plasmodium parasites are transmitted through the bite of an
infected mosquito.
• 1,500 new cases of malaria are reported in the US each year –
nearly all of them in returning travelers.
• For more information visit www.cdc.gov/malaria.

7. Anopheles Mosquito Pumping Blood
Photo Credit: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

8. Photo Credit: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

9. Resolution
• The patient was treated with quinidine and clindamycin for 2
days followed by malarone for 3 days and recovered.

10. Gerald A. Capraro, Ph.D., D(ABMM)
Photo Credit: Gerald A. Capraro. Ph.D., D(ABMM)
Dr. Capraro is an Assistant Professor at the Louisiana State
University Health Sciences Center in Shreveport,
Department of Pathology, and the Medical Director of the
Clinical Microbiology and Diagnostic Virology Laboratories at
University Health - Shreveport. Dr. Capraro is a Diplomate
of the American Board of Medical Microbiology and has
expertise spanning the breadth of medical and public health
microbiology, including bacteriology, mycobacteriology,
virology, mycology, parasitology, and infectious disease
serology. Dr. Capraro’s research interests include molecular
mechanisms of antibiotic resistance and microbial virulence,
and the development of molecular diagnostic assays for use
in the clinical laboratory, particularly with regard to their
impact on patient care outcomes and healthcare costs.