Acute respiratory distress syndrome: A rare clinical presentation of pulmonary involvement in Plasmodium vivax infection

The common perception and belief among general medical fraternity about vivax malaria is its benign nature and rare association with any known complications. Even, the literary evidence is scarce regarding the devastating complications of malaria due to vivax but is abundant with complicated reports of falciparum malaria. Therefore, any such complicated case of vivax malaria throws diagnostic challenges to the attending physician and is very difficult to exclude the presence of other type of infections and falciparum infestation. Among various complications associated with malaria, pulmonary complications are rare and the possibility of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is even rarest with vivax infection. The present case is a description of rare pulmonary complication of vivax malaria resulting in ARDS and its successful management.