ABSTRACT
This study is a retrospective case series of the causes of death among patients with severe malaria. Data from the medical records of patients who were admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the Hospital for Tropical Diseases, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand between 1991 and 2004 were analyzed. The overall hospital mortality rate was 0.2% and the ICU mortality rate was 1.8% for patients with malaria. Thirty-five patients died of malaria in the ICU during the study period, while a total of 1,866 patients were treated for malaria in the ICU during the study period. The most common complication of malaria was cerebral malaria (77.1%). The socioeconomic and demographic characteristics of those who died are examined here, as well as the cost of their treatment.
Subject(s)
Adolescent , Adult , Aged , Aged, 80 and over , Cause of Death , Female , Hospital Mortality , Hospitals, University , Humans , Intensive Care Units/economics , Malaria/complications , Male , Medical Records , Middle Aged , Sex Distribution , Socioeconomic Factors , Thailand/epidemiologyABSTRACT
In recent years, several rapid diagnostic tests for falciparum malaria have been developed. KAT test results were compared with microscopy on 90 consecutive patients hospitalized at the Hospital for Tropical Diseases, Bangkok, Thailand. Fifty-one patients had P. falciparum infections while 49 had malaria due to other plasmodium species. For a geometric mean +/-SD (Min;Max;range) parasitemia of 11,481 +/- 5.0 (88;713,838;713,750), the sensitivity of the KAT test was 96% (95% CI = 86-99.5), the specificity was 92% (95% CI = 80-99), the accuracy was 94% and the reliability was 85%. These findings suggest that the KAT test is of potential interest in the diagnosis of falciparum malaria in Thailand.