Could Plasmodium vivax malaria trigger malnutrition? Revisiting the Bradford Hill criteria to assess a causal relationship between two neglected problems

Vivax Malaria and the Potential Role of the Subtelomeric Multigene vir Superfamily

“…While P. vivax is infrequently associated with severe malaria in pregnant women compared to P. falciparum, it is known to be responsible for maternal anemia and reduced birth weight [20]. Malnutrition is also associated with vivax malaria, especially during early childhood, and is likely to be induced by deleterious catabolic responses related to chronic relapsing-remitting inflammation [21][22][23]. Other factors associated with severe malaria include population characteristics (host genetics, geographic and social factors, age, and P. vivax chloroquine resistance) and virulence factors [11].…”