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-malarial...
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doaj-186e51aaf30f4e729a4084900c1599a02021-05-05T13:52:30ZengeLife Sciences Publications LtdeLife2050-084X2017-10-01610.7554/eLife.29198Quantifying the contribution of Plasmodium falciparum malaria to febrile illness amongst African childrenUrsula Dalrymple0https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6206-3777Ewan Cameron1Samir Bhatt2Daniel J Weiss3Sunetra Gupta4Peter W Gething5Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom; Big Data Institute, Li Ka Shing Centre for Health Information and Discovery, University of Oxford, Oxford, United KingdomBig Data Institute, Li Ka Shing Centre for Health Information and Discovery, University of Oxford, Oxford, United KingdomBig Data Institute, Li Ka Shing Centre for Health Information and Discovery, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom; Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Imperial College London, London, United KingdomBig Data Institute, Li Ka Shing Centre for Health Information and Discovery, University of Oxford, Oxford, United KingdomDepartment of Zoology, University of Oxford, Oxford, United KingdomBig Data Institute, Li Ka Shing Centre for Health Information and Discovery, University of Oxford, Oxford, United KingdomSuspected 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 to 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.https://elifesciences.org/articles/29198P. falciparumfevernon-malarial febrile illness |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Ursula Dalrymple Ewan Cameron Samir Bhatt Daniel J Weiss Sunetra Gupta Peter W Gething |
spellingShingle |
Ursula Dalrymple Ewan Cameron Samir Bhatt Daniel J Weiss Sunetra Gupta Peter W Gething Quantifying the contribution of Plasmodium falciparum malaria to febrile illness amongst African children eLife P. falciparum fever non-malarial febrile illness |
author_facet |
Ursula Dalrymple Ewan Cameron Samir Bhatt Daniel J Weiss Sunetra Gupta Peter W Gething |
author_sort |
Ursula Dalrymple |
title |
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_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_sort |
quantifying the contribution of plasmodium falciparum malaria to febrile illness amongst african children |
publisher |
eLife Sciences Publications Ltd |
series |
eLife |
issn |
2050-084X |
publishDate |
2017-10-01 |
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 to 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. |
topic |
P. falciparum fever non-malarial febrile illness |
url |
https://elifesciences.org/articles/29198 |
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