Coombs’-positive hemolytic disease in malaria

Abstract

a t e d f r o m Vietnam with drug-re-sistant Plasmodium falciparum malaria, 4 patients were found with a positive direct antiglobulin test of the immunoglobulin (Ig) G type. In three patients the positive Coombs ' tests seemed tem-porally related to the administration of quinine for relapsed malaria and were associated with hemolysis. Two of these patients had a quinine-related dermatitis, one developed blackwater fever within hours after the initiation of quinine therapy, and another had a panagglutinin in quinine-free red cell eluates. The fourth patient had compensated hemolysis and a positive direct Coombs ' test which seemed unrelated to quinine therapy. The indirect Coombs ' test was negativ