Quantifying the contribution of Plasmodium falciparum malaria to febrile illness amongst African children
Suspected malaria cases in Africa increasingly receive a rapid diagnostic test (RDT) before antimalarials are prescribed. While this ensures efficient use of resources to clear parasites, the underlying cause of the individual's fever remains unknown due to potential coinfection with a non-mala...
| Egile Nagusiak: | , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Formatua: | Journal article |
| Argitaratua: |
eLife Sciences Publications
2017
|
| _version_ | 1826267780085710848 |
|---|---|
| author | Dalrymple, U Cameron, E Bhatt, S Weiss, D Gupta, S Gething, P |
| author_facet | Dalrymple, U Cameron, E Bhatt, S Weiss, D Gupta, S Gething, P |
| author_sort | Dalrymple, U |
| collection | OXFORD |
| description | Suspected malaria cases in Africa increasingly receive a rapid diagnostic test (RDT) before antimalarials are prescribed. While this ensures efficient use of resources to clear parasites, the underlying cause of the individual's fever remains unknown due to potential coinfection with a non-malarial febrile illness. Widespread use of RDTs does not necessarily prevent over-estimation of clinical malaria cases or sub-optimal case management of febrile patients. We present a new approach that allows inference of the spatiotemporal prevalence of both Plasmodium falciparum malaria-attributable and non-malarial fever in sub-Saharan African children from 2006-2014. We estimate that 35.7% of all self-reported fevers were accompanied by a malaria infection in 2014, but that only 28.0% of those (10.0% of all fevers) were causally attributable to malaria. Most fevers among malaria-positive children are therefore caused by non-malaria illnesses. This refined understanding can help improve interpretation of the burden of febrile illness and shape policy on fever case management. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-06T20:59:28Z |
| format | Journal article |
| id | oxford-uuid:3a6032a9-2e29-47a9-b603-29d8a591a48d |
| institution | University of Oxford |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-06T20:59:28Z |
| publishDate | 2017 |
| publisher | eLife Sciences Publications |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | oxford-uuid:3a6032a9-2e29-47a9-b603-29d8a591a48d2022-03-26T14:01:17ZQuantifying the contribution of Plasmodium falciparum malaria to febrile illness amongst African childrenJournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:3a6032a9-2e29-47a9-b603-29d8a591a48dSymplectic Elements at OxfordeLife Sciences Publications2017Dalrymple, UCameron, EBhatt, SWeiss, DGupta, SGething, PSuspected malaria cases in Africa increasingly receive a rapid diagnostic test (RDT) before antimalarials are prescribed. While this ensures efficient use of resources to clear parasites, the underlying cause of the individual's fever remains unknown due to potential coinfection with a non-malarial febrile illness. Widespread use of RDTs does not necessarily prevent over-estimation of clinical malaria cases or sub-optimal case management of febrile patients. We present a new approach that allows inference of the spatiotemporal prevalence of both Plasmodium falciparum malaria-attributable and non-malarial fever in sub-Saharan African children from 2006-2014. We estimate that 35.7% of all self-reported fevers were accompanied by a malaria infection in 2014, but that only 28.0% of those (10.0% of all fevers) were causally attributable to malaria. Most fevers among malaria-positive children are therefore caused by non-malaria illnesses. This refined understanding can help improve interpretation of the burden of febrile illness and shape policy on fever case management. |
| spellingShingle | Dalrymple, U Cameron, E Bhatt, S Weiss, D Gupta, S Gething, P Quantifying the contribution of Plasmodium falciparum malaria to febrile illness amongst African children |
| title | Quantifying the contribution of Plasmodium falciparum malaria to febrile illness amongst African children |
| title_full | Quantifying the contribution of Plasmodium falciparum malaria to febrile illness amongst African children |
| title_fullStr | Quantifying the contribution of Plasmodium falciparum malaria to febrile illness amongst African children |
| title_full_unstemmed | Quantifying the contribution of Plasmodium falciparum malaria to febrile illness amongst African children |
| title_short | Quantifying the contribution of Plasmodium falciparum malaria to febrile illness amongst African children |
| title_sort | quantifying the contribution of plasmodium falciparum malaria to febrile illness amongst african children |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT dalrympleu quantifyingthecontributionofplasmodiumfalciparummalariatofebrileillnessamongstafricanchildren AT camerone quantifyingthecontributionofplasmodiumfalciparummalariatofebrileillnessamongstafricanchildren AT bhatts quantifyingthecontributionofplasmodiumfalciparummalariatofebrileillnessamongstafricanchildren AT weissd quantifyingthecontributionofplasmodiumfalciparummalariatofebrileillnessamongstafricanchildren AT guptas quantifyingthecontributionofplasmodiumfalciparummalariatofebrileillnessamongstafricanchildren AT gethingp quantifyingthecontributionofplasmodiumfalciparummalariatofebrileillnessamongstafricanchildren |