Malaria in HIV-infected patients in a nonendemic setting

The impact of HIV infection on malaria is unclear in nonendemic areas. In endemic territories, HIV has been reported to be a risk factor for higher morbidity. Nowadays, as HIV-infected patients travel more, it is important to assess the impact of HIV at the individual level on imported malaria.

This retrospective case-control study collected data on HIV-infected patients diagnosed with malaria (2000-2017) and matched them with two controls based on age, sex and ethnicity. Clinical and biological parameters were collected and compared.

We identified 47 cases and matched them with 94 controls. Comparing each of the WHO 2014 severity criteria, hyperparasitemia above 10% (P = 0.006; 12.8 versus 1.1%), icterus (P = 0.042; 14.9 versus 4.3%), acute renal failure (P = 0.022; 25.5 versus 9.6%) and bacteraemia (P = 0.014; 6.4 versus 0%) were significantly more present in HIV-infected patients with a trend to more cerebral malaria (12.8 versus 6.4%). HIV- infected patients were hospitalized more frequently and for longer periods. We observed a higher number of severity criteria when CD4 T-cell count was lower, especially below 200 cells/μl. The difference in occurrence of severe malaria disappeared when patients with CD4 T-cell count more than 500 cells/μl and undetectable viral load (n = 9) were compared with controls. De-novo HIV diagnosis was made during the malaria episode in 17% of cases.

HIV infection has an impact on the imported malaria profile, although it is unclear whether well controlled HIV-infected patients have a higher risk of severe malaria. HIV-infected patients should be particularly targeted for pretravel advice.