Renal Failure and Haemolysis in a Two-Year-Old Child due to Black Water Fever Or Naphthalene Poisoning

Abstract

Malaria remains a major public health problem in the world, with sub- Saharan Africa accounting for about 80% of malaria cases.Black water fever (BWF) is one of the severe forms of malaria. It is a clinical syndrome characterized by severe intravascular haemolysis, haemoglobinuria and acute renal failure, commonly seen after receiving quinine. There have been reports of haemolysis occurring in patients treated with artemether-lumefantrine combination therapy. There is also astrong association of haemolytic anaemia with naphthalene poisoning, first described in 1949. In this initial report four Negro infants with mothballs poisoning, presented among others with severe intravascular haemolysis, haemoglobinuria and acute renal failure.