Plasmodium vivax infection in a renal transplant recipient: report of a case

A patient with end-stage renal disease who acquired Plasmodium vivax infection after renal transplantation is reported. This 24-year-old male, a native of Taiwan, had chronic renal failure due to nephrotic syndrome of unknown etiology and had been maintained on regular hemodialysis. He developed a fever 18 days after receiving a blood transfusion and a renal allograft transplant from unknown donors in India, while he was taking corticosteroids, azathioprine and cyclosporine. Ring forms, schizonts and trophozoits of P. vivax were found in the patient's peripheral blood. He achieved defervescence after a three-day treatment of chloroquine. Malaria should be considered in the differential diagnosis of fever in transplant recipients who have received organs or blood products from an area of endemic malaria.