Malaria

Abstract

Malaria remains a life-threatening parasitic infection endemic throughout much of the world, with 228 million infections worldwide and 405,000 deaths due to malaria in 2018, and with the majority of these deaths among African children. Malaria is one of the most common causes of fever in returned travelers and recent immigrants to nonendemic countries. Malaria is a mosquito-borne protozoal infection caused by Plasmodium spp. It is carried by Anopheles spp. mosquitos. A high index of suspicion is critical when evaluating patients with febrile illness following travel to malarious areas, especially those endemic for P. falciparum. Proper treatment of malaria requires knowledge of the infecting species and where it was acquired, since drug resistance patterns, especially to chloroquine, vary geographically.