Introduction:

In recent years, the number of malaria cases in native communities from Condorcanqui, Amazonas has considerably increased. Plasmodium vivax malaria is endemic in the region and the re-introduction of P. falciparum was reported in 2019.

Objetive:

Here, we compiled and analyzed malaria and COVID-19 data reported by the Regional Direction of Health (DIRESA) during the 2020.

Methodos:

Additionally, we performed an odds ratio analysis to evaluate significant associations between COVID-19 symptoms and previous malaria infections. In 2020, 1547 malaria (97% were P. vivax) and 5968 COVID-19 cases were reported. Furthermore, 96 patients got COVID-19 after getting a malaria infection.

Results:

From these, 87 were symptomatic (90.6%), and mostly adults, ages 30 to 59 (62.3%). Also, we found that malaria previous infections represent a risk for the presence of symptoms such as fever, cough, throat pain, and respiratory difficulty. Nevertheless, there was no significant association between these cases and hospitalization or death.

Conclusions:

Our analysis suggests that previous malaria infections might affect COVID-19 symptomatology, which highlights the importance of a continuing control and surveillance malaria program to avoid potential syndemics with COVID-19.

        · abstract in Spanish     · text in English | Spanish     · English ( pdf ) | Spanish ( pdf )