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Severe and complicated malaria

Cases of severe and complicated malaria are almost always caused by infection with P. falciparum. The other species usually cause only febrile disease. Severe and complicated malaria cases are medical emergencies since mortality rates are high (10% to 50%).

Recommended treatment for severe malaria is the intravenous use of antimalarial drugs. For severe malaria, parenteral artesunate was superior to quinine in both children and adults. In another systematic review, artemisinin derivatives (artemether and arteether) were as efficacious as quinine in the treatment of cerebral malaria in children. Treatment of severe malaria involves supportive measures that are best done in a critical care unit. This includes the management of high fevers and the seizures that may result from it. It also includes monitoring for poor breathing effort, low blood sugar, and low blood potassium. Artemisinin derivatives have the same or better efficacy than quinolones in preventing deaths in severe or complicated malaria. Quinine loading dose helps to shorten the duration of fever and increases parasite clearance from the body. There is no difference in effectiveness when using intrarectal quinine compared to intravenous or intramuscular quinine in treating uncomplicated/complicated falciparum malaria. There is insufficient evidence for intramuscular arteether to treat severe malaria. The provision of rectal artesunate before transfer to hospital may reduce the rate of death for children with severe malaria. In children with malaria and concomitant hypoglycaemia, sublingual administration of glucose appears to result in better increases in blood sugar after 20 minutes when compared to oral administration, based on very limited data.

Cerebral malaria is the form of severe and complicated malaria with the worst neurological symptoms. There is insufficient data on whether osmotic agents such as mannitol or urea are effective in treating cerebral malaria. Routine phenobarbitone in cerebral malaria is associated with fewer convulsions but possibly more deaths. There is no evidence that steroids would bring treatment benefits for cerebral malaria.

Managing cerebral malaria Cerebral malaria usually makes a patient comatose. If the cause of the coma is in doubt, testing for other locally prevalent causes of encephalopathy (bacterial, viral or fungal infection) should be carried out. In areas where there is a high prevalence of malaria infection (e.g. tropical region) treatment can start without testing first. To manage the cerebral malaria when confirmed the following can be done:

There is insufficient evidence to show that blood transfusion is useful in either reducing deaths for children with severe anaemia or in improving their haematocrit in one month. There is insufficient evidence that iron chelating agents such as deferoxamine and deferiprone improve outcomes of those with malaria falciparum infection.