[Aspects of the enzymatic evaluation in Plasmodium falciparum malaria infection]

To try to find effects of malaria on clinical serum activity of certain enzymes, 3 groups of infants--malarial, asymptomatic carrier and normal controls--have been designed. Parasitologic data have been compared with serum concentration of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), Hydroxybutyrate dehydrogenase (HBDH) alanine aminotransferase (ALT), gamma glutamyl transferase (GGT) and 5'nucleotidase (5'Nu). Results show that only LDH and HBDH are significantly increased. Respective coefficients of correlation r = 0.32 (p < 0.05) and r = 0.39 (p < 0.01) show that increasing in LDH and HBDH are linked to malarial parasite density. LDH and HBDH increasing might therefore constitute a marker of malaria.