It was announced of Fri., 8/30 that a 10 yr old boy, two weeks removed
from a Central African nation, had died in a NY hospital from cardiac
failure due to falciparum malaria. The boy, along w/ two siblings and
his parents, had apparrently "crashed" and "bled out". The hospital ER
closed down for fear of Ebola. It is said the kid had a
"superinfection", extremely high parasitemia, resulting in massive lysis
of RBC's, w/ subsequent cardiac failure.
In letting my mind ramble on this misfortune, and knowing of the ability
of Plasmodium to exchange genetically w/ other organisms, the question
that came was: what is the possiblity/potential/probablity etc. of
Plasmodium having acquired material from the Ebola virus? The family,
the malaria, and Ebola are all from the same geographical area. Or am I
out on a thin limb... ?
jimmau
