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POSITIVE BLOOD CULTURE WITH PLASMODIUM FALCIPARUM: CASE REPORT

An adult traveler presented with fever and malaise after returning from Sierra Leone. Young trophozoites of Plasmodium falciparum were seen in a blood smear, with parasitemia being 10%. Moreover, blood cultures drawn on admission signaled as "positive" after 1 day of incubation, but no bacteria were seen in the Gram stain or were subcultured. A Giemsa-stained smear from the positive bottle contents yielded numerous pigmented, mature trophozoites of P. falciparum. This case indicates that, in patients with malaria, the growth of P. falciparum in blood cultures can result in "false"-positive blood cultures.

Received January 24, 2007. Accepted for publication March 14, 2007.

^* Address correspondence to Jutte J.C. de Vries, Department of Medical Microbiology, University Medical Center Groningen, Hanzeplein 1, P.O. Box 30001, 9700 RB Groningen, The Netherlands. E-mail: j.j.c.de.vries{at}mmb.umcg.nl

Authors’ addresses: Jutte J.C. de Vries and Greetje A. Kampinga, Department of Medical Microbiology, University Medical Center Groningen, Hanzeplein 1, PO Box 30001, 9700 RB Groningen, The Netherlands, Telephone: +31 50 361 6161, Fax: +31 50 363 3528, E-mails: j.j.c.de.vries{at}mmb.umcg.nl and g.a.kampinga{at}mmb.umcg.nl. Sander van Assen, Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases, University Medical Center Groningen, 9700 RB Groningen, The Netherlands, E-mail: s.van.assen{at}int.umcg.nl. André B. Mulder, Department of Clinical Chemistry, University Medical Center Groningen, 9700 RB Groningen, The Netherlands, E-mail: a.b.mulder{at}lc.umcg.nl.