malaria

Malaria: 5 point summary of highlights, further details in malaria module of Tropical Medicine teaching series

1. commonest fatal parasitic infection worldwide
2. prevented by avoiding bites from malaria-bearing Anopheles mosquitoes
3. all international travellers to malaria-endemic zone with fever on their return have malaria until proven otherwise
4. malaria cannot be completely ruled out by a single, one-off blood test
5. first line treatment recommended for uncomplicated malaria is based on an ACT-containing regimen unless good reason for choosing otherwise