Pancytopenia induced by secondary hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis: A rare, overlooked dreadful complication of Plasmodium vivax

Hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH) is an unusual multifaceted clinicopathological entity that often remains misdiagnosed and can be fatal if not timely detected or treated. It can be familial or associated with different types of infections, autoimmune disorders, and malignancies. Parasitic infection-associated HLH has been rarely documented in the literature with only a handful of them being reported due to Plasmodium vivax infection. We describe an extremely rare case of pancytopenia induced by HLH resulting from P. vivax infection in a 7-year-old girl, which posed as a diagnostic challenge and led to a therapeutic delay.