Symptoms and Immune Markers in Plasmodium/Dengue Virus Co-infection Compared with Mono-infection with Either in Peru

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Malaria and dengue are two of the most common vector-borne diseases in the world, but co-infection is rarely described, and immunologic comparisons of co-infection with mono-infection are lacking. METHODOLOGY AND PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We collected symptom histories and blood specimens from subjects in a febrile illness surveillance study conducted in Iquitos and Puerto Maldonado, Peru, between 2002-2011. Nineteen symptoms and 18 immune markers at presentation were compared among those with co-infection with Plasmodium/dengue virus (DENV), Plasmodium mono-infection, and DENV mono-infection. Seventeen subjects were identified as having Plasmodium/DENV co-infection and were retrospectively matched with 51 DENV mono-infected and 44 Plasmodium mono-infected subjects. Those with Plasmodium mono-infection had higher levels of IL-4, IL-6, IL-10,