A Case Report of Abdominal Pain Due to Malaria in a 22-Year-Old Man

Malaria is one of the most important protozoan diseases that has been ranked by WHO among the most important diseases after tuberculosis and AIDS. Currently, Malaria is common in 101 countries. 300-500 million clinical cases of malaria are reported each year, even in countries where malaria has been eradicated. Case Report: The patient is a 22-year-old man with complaint of abdominal pain who referred to hospital about 3 weeks ago. The pain was severe, generalized, and vague. At this time, the patient had experienced abdominal pain as intermittent and attack. Also, he had complaint of fatigue, weight loss, headache, and fever. He reported nausea and vomiting, along with the generalized abdominal pain. Meanwhile, he had complaint of mild dysuria without urinary frequency and mild pain and cramps of abdominal muscles. There was no superficial abdominal tenderness, but deep tenderness was positive. Many treatments and evaluations were performed for the patient, but the patient still had complaint of the lack of improvement. Finally the patient was treated after diagnosis of Malaria according to his blood smear test.Malaria is one of the most important infectious diseases in tropical areas. This disease has been eradicated in west countries but is common in 100 tropical countries, which Iran is among them. The case reported in this study showed that taking a complete and accurate history has a critical role in diagnosis of Malaria, so we can prevent late diagnosis, creation of numerous problems, inappropriate treatment, unnecessary costs, and also patient’s wandering.