INITIAL ASSESSMENT AND MANAGEMENT
Severe malaria is a medical emergency. Initial management
is based on that of any acutely and severely ill patient. The
initial rapid clinical assessment should focus on the airway
and circulation and include assessments of conscious level,
respiratory status, and state of hydration. Hypoglycemia
should be ruled out or, if the patient is comatose, treated
empirically. Convulsions, which can present with subtle symptoms, especially in children, should be treated promptly. Intravenous rehydration should be commenced if indicated,
oxygen given if there is clinical or blood gas evidence of respiratory distress or hypoxia, and an appropriate antimalarial
drug administered. If the presence of severe malaria is suspected (Table 1), the patient should be transferred to the
highest level of care available (preferably an intensive care
unit).2,4
In areas of high transmission, peripheral parasitemia is
common and relatively uninformative unless very high, and
other common infections may produce clinical pictures similar to the spectrum of syndromes produced by severe malaria.
In cases with impaired consciousness, a lumbar puncture
should be performed to exclude meningitis5 and the possibility of bacterial sepsis considered in all seriously ill individuals.
Blood cultures are rarely available in endemic areas, but
where they have been done systematically, bacteremias were
found in a significant proportion of clinically severe patients
with parasitemia.6,7 Clearly if there are focal signs suggesting
a bacterial infection (such as pneumonia), broad-spectrum
antibiotic cover should be given. However, at present there is
no robust method of excluding bacterial sepsis in patients
with parasitemia and “severe malaria” in high-transmission
areas. In the absence of such a test, a strong case can be made