P. vivax malaria complicated by shock and ARDS.

We report a case of Plasmodium vivax malaria complicated by shock and ARDS. The patient responded to oral chloroquine and primaquine and PCR was positive for P. vivax DNA and negative for P. falciparum DNA. P. vivax may cause severe complications and where the possibility of mixed infections exists, blood should be sent for PCR analysis so that mixed infections can reliably be excluded.