Integrated fever management: disease severity markers to triage children with malaria and non-malarial febrile illness

• Published in: Malaria Journal
• Main Authors: Chloe R. McDonald, Andrea Weckman, Melissa Richard-Greenblatt, Aleksandra Leligdowicz, Kevin C. Kain
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: BMC 2018
• Subjects: Malaria; Disease severity; Severe malaria; Innate immunity; Inflammation; Endothelial activation; Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine; RC955-962; Infectious and parasitic diseases; RC109-216; Arctic
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12936-018-2488-x; https://doaj.org/article/18b2e60030704049b879d631883a8963

Abstract Febrile symptoms in children are a leading cause of health-care seeking behaviour worldwide. The majority of febrile illnesses are uncomplicated and self-limited, without the need for referral or hospital admission. However, current diagnostic tools are unable to identify which febrile children have self-limited infection and which children are at risk of progressing to life-threatening infections, such as severe malaria. This paper describes the need for a simple community-based tool that can improve the early recognition and triage of febrile children, with either malarial or non-malarial illness, at risk of critical illness. The integration of a disease severity marker into existing malaria rapid diagnostic tests (RDT) could enable detection of children at risk of severe infection in the hospital and community, irrespective of aetiology. Incorporation of a disease severity marker could inform individualized management and early triage of children at risk of life-threatening infection. A child positive for both malaria and a disease severity marker could be prioritized for urgent referral/admission and parenteral therapy. A child positive for malaria and negative for a disease severity marker could be managed conservatively, as an out-patient, with oral anti-malarial therapy. An RDT with a disease severity marker could facilitate an integrated community-based approach to fever syndromes and improve early recognition, risk stratification, and prompt treatment of severe malaria and other life-threatening infections.