Plasmodium vivax is responsible for a significant portion of malaria cases worldwide, especially in Asia and Latin America, where geo-helminthiasis have a high prevalence. Impact of the interaction between vivax malaria and intestinal helminthes has been poorly explored. The objective of this study was to evaluate the influence of intestinal helminthiasis on the concentration of hemoglobin in children with Plasmodium vivax malaria in rural areas in the municipality of Careiro, in the Western Brazilian Amazon.

Summary Tumour necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha antagonists are very effective treatments for immune-mediated inflammatory disorders. Adverse events include severe infections and episodes of lupus-like syndrome, multiple sclerosis-like demyelination and other neuropathies. The pathomechanisms of these autoimmune-like syndromes after TNF-alpha blockade are still unknown. We report a patient with psoriasis who developed a lupus-like syndrome during infliximab treatment, which was finally diagnosed as an exaggerated systemic infection with Borrelia burgdorferi. This case suggests that autoimmune-like syndromes may actually represent pre-existing or newly acquired nonseptic bacterial or viral infections, which have escaped immune surveillance during TNF-alpha blockade. Each autoimmune-like syndrome during TNF-alpha blockade should therefore be carefully examined for potential causative infection.