Last Updated on January 29, 2023 by Shabnam Sengupta
Malaria continues to be one of the most significant and unsolvable global public health issues because it is the most common parasitic disease that results in death worldwide. Malaria can result in serious and even fatal illnesses if left untreated. Clinical signs and symptoms can include high fever, shivering, muscle aches, jaundice, acute renal failure, severe anaemia, cerebral malaria, and other life-threatening complications in severe malaria.
The extremely severe malaria could be fatal and require hospitalisation. The focus of this article is on the people who usually are at a higher risk for developing severe malaria and how to handle it. We will also discuss why there will be a need of hospitalisation for the patients with severe malaria.
Who has a higher risk of developing severe malaria?
Some individuals have a higher risk of developing severe malaria. These people include expectant mothers, young children, old people, immunocompromised people, people without spleens, and people taking particular medications. People who are at a higher risk should therefore visit their doctors. Consultations are especially important if you intend to travel to a nation where malaria is a problem.
How should severe malaria be handled?
Usually, severe malaria necessitates immediate medical attention. And the condition can quickly worsen into a serious and possibly fatal condition. The most reliable test to determine whether you have malaria is a diagnostic test. In this, there will be an examination of a sample of your blood under a microscope to check for the presence of malaria parasites. This is because effective malaria management requires quick disease diagnosis and parasite species and infection level identification.
Only rapid diagnostic tests and polymerase chain reactions can accurately and quickly identify the infected blood samples, which may be advantageous for their prompt treatment. If you have malaria, you must be admitted to the hospital as soon as you have the diagnosis of severe or complicated malaria.
Why is hospitalisation required for severe malaria?
In cases of severe or complicated malaria or if the patient is unconscious, there is a need of immediate hospitalisation. This is because in such cases, doctors will need to monitor the patient’s respiratory rate and pattern, coma score, glucose level, and urine output continuously. Exchange transfusions can be helpful to remove toxic mediators and infected red blood cells from circulation. It can also help in lowering the parasite load in cases of severe parasitic infection. Those with a diagnosis of Plasmodium falciparum malaria should also be admitted to the hospital or start their initial treatment in an observation unit. This is because there is a higher risk of developing severe or complicated malaria in such cases.
The treatment of uncomplicated malaria gets rid of the infection and stops it from getting worse. Drug tolerability, drug side effects, and therapeutic response time should all be taken into account when selecting the applicable treatment method.
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