Anemia and iron metabolism in acute infections

Abstract

Iron metabolism was studied in 21 patients with bacterial infections and in 22patients with viral infections du¬ring the infection and four weeks later. Decreased serum iron concentration and iron absorption were detec¬ted in all patients during the active period, of infection. Although there was no change in total iron binding ca¬pacity and transferrin saturation in viral infections, a significant decrease was observed in bacterial infecti¬ons. Serum ferritin concentrations increased significantly in bacterial infection group. Anemia was found in viral infection group and bacterial infection group 18 and 47percent during the active infection period; 13 and 52 percent at the recovery period, respectively. We concluded that during infections iron metabolism is not the unique responsible factor for the development of anemia and if iron treatment should be given, it might be defered to the 4th week.

Özet

Bu gah§mada 21 bakteriyel, 22 viral infeksiyonlu 43 hastada akut donemde ve 4 hafta sonra olmak uzere kan sayimi yapilmis; serum demiri, serum demiri baglama kapasitesi, transferrin satiirasyonu, ferritin dilzeyleri 61-culmils ve demir absorbsiyon testi uygulanmistir. Serum demiri ve demir absorbsiyonunun bakteriyel ve viral infeksiyonlaf esnasmda aynroranda azaldigi, serum demir baglama kapasitesi ve transferrin saturasyonunun viral infeksiyonlarda degisiklik gostermez iken, bakteriyel grupta, kontrol grubuna gore anlamh dusme oldugu saptanmi§tir. Infeksiyon ve iyilesme doneminde ferritin dilzeyleri bakteriyel grupta, viral gruptan anlamh ola-rakyuksek bulunmustur. Anemi, akut viral infeksiyonlarda %18, bakteriyel infeksiyonlarda %47 oraninda ve 4. haftanin sonunda ise sirasiyla %13 ve %52 oraninda saptanmistir. Iyilesme doneminde demir absorbsiyo¬nunun viral ve bakteriyel infeksiyon grubunda normal degerlere geldigi gorulmiis ve demir metabolizmasin-daki degisikliklerin tek basma sorumlu olmadigim, demir eksikligi anemisinin tedavisinde oral demirin akut infeksiyonlardan 4 hafta sonra baslanmasmin tedavinin etkinligini artiracag'mi dusundurmustur.