Details:

Corporate Authors:
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (U.S.)
Description:
Because malaria cases are seen relatively rarely in North America, misdiagnosis by clinicians and laboratorians has been a commonly documented problem in published reports. However, malaria may be a common illness in areas where it is transmitted and therefore the diagnosis of malaria should routinely be considered for any febrile person who has traveled to an area with known malaria transmission in the past several months preceding symptom onset.

Symptoms of malaria are generally non-specific and most commonly consist of fever, malaise, weakness, gastrointestinal complaints (nausea, vomiting, diarrhea), neurologic complaints (dizziness, confusion, disorientation, coma), headache, back pain, myalgia, chills, and/or cough. The diagnosis of malaria should also be considered in any person with fever of unknown origin regardless of travel history.

Patients suspected of having malaria infection should be urgently evaluated. Treatment for malaria should not be initiated until the diagnosis has been confirmed by laboratory investigations. "Presumptive treatment" without the benefit of laboratory confirmation should be reserved for extreme circumstances (strong clinical suspicion, severe disease, impossibility of obtaining prompt laboratory confirmation, usually by microscopy).


Subject:
[+]
Malaria/diagnosis
Malaria/prevention & Control
Malaria/therapy

Series:
CDC treatment guidelines
Document Type:
Pamphlet (or booklet)
Genre:
Practice Guideline
Collection(s):
Stephen B. Thacker CDC Library collection
Main Document Checksum:
[+]
urn:sha256:f462ecc2750c0dd3f72f70949762b09d89b7ccffc18f4c953d0e6b228d6fd2e2
File Type:

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