Abstract
Background: Malaria and dengue are major causes of acute febrile illness in Pakistan and often present with overlapping clinical features, making early diagnosis challenging in resource-limited settings. C-reactive protein (CRP), an acute-phase inflammatory biomarker, may provide a rapid and cost-effective tool for differentiating these infections and assessing disease severity.
Objective: To evaluate the diagnostic utility of serum CRP levels in patients with malaria and dengue infection and to determine its association with disease severity. A cross-sectional study was conducted among 100 participants. Non-parametric statistical analyses, correlation testing, logistic regression, and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis were performed.
Results: Mean CRP levels were significantly elevated in malaria patients (126.71 ± 54.75 mg/L) compared with dengue patients (88.45 ± 41.38 mg/L) and healthy controls (3.77 ± 1.50 mg/L) (p < .001). CRP demonstrated significant negative correlations with platelet count (rₛ = −0.477, p < .01) and WBC count (rₛ = −0.251, p < .05), indicating an association with disease severity. Logistic regression identified CRP as an independent predictor of infection status (p = .010). ROC analysis showed acceptable diagnostic performance for malaria detection (AUC = 0.720).
Conclusion: CRP is a valuable and affordable biomarker for the early diagnosis and severity assessment of malaria and dengue infections. Elevated CRP levels, particularly in malaria, may aid clinicians in differentiating these infections and improving patient management in resource-constrained settings