Would rational use of antibiotics be compromised in the era of test-based management of malaria?
Journal
Tropical Medicine and International Health
Category: Publications
Author: Frank Baiden, Jayne Webster, Seth Owusu-Agyei, and Daniel Chandramohan
Published Date: 02 February 2011
Summary
WHO’s revised malaria treatment guidelines (WHO 2010) recommend parasitological confirmation by microscopy or by rapid diagnostic test (RDT) in all patients including children suspected of malaria before starting treatment. Presumptive treatment of fever in children <5 years of age with antimalarial drugs, unless an alternative cause for the fever is diagnosed, was for many years recommended in malaria-endemic countries of sub-Saharan Africa. This approach to diagnosis of febrile illness in children, incorporated within the Integrated Management of Childhood Illness (IMCI), is part of the reason why nearly 80% of all malaria cases reported are unconfirmed (WHO 2009).
