It is important to promptly treat malaria to prevent its spread throughout the community or progression of the disease, and should thus be deemed a medical emergency. If you or anyone you know suspects the contraction of malaria, especially if returning from a foreign country, seek medical help immediately.
Clinical Diagnosis
The first step in diagnosing malaria is examining the physical symptoms a patient exhibits. Since many malarial symptoms are similar to those found in other diseases, such as influenza, malaria is difficult to diagnosis based solely on clinical findings, and may be overlooked in areas where malaria is uncommon; it is best to confirm suspicion with a laboratory test. Doctors are also urged to conduct a complete blood count and routine chemistry panel in order to determine uncomplicated or severe malaria and to detect conditions such as anemia or hypoglycemia (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2014).
Laboratory Tests
One of the most used diagnostic tests for malaria is the blood smear, in which a drop of the patient's blood is spread on a smear and stained so that the parasites may be viewed using a 100X oil immersion lens on a microscope. Microscopy is one of the best diagnostic tools because it provides results within hours and can also detect the presence and species of parasites present in the blood (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2014).
(http://www.ajtmh.org/content/74/4/568/F2.large.jpg, September 14, 2014)
Rapid Diagnostic Tests (RDTs) are also utilized in diagnosing malaria, which are test kits that detect specific malaria antigens in one's blood. To perform this test, the patient's blood is applied to a test card with several reagents. After only 15 minutes, the presence of a specific band in the test card window indicates an infection by one of the four most common species of malaria (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2014).
(http://www.cdc.gov/malaria/images/diagnosis_treatment/binax_now.jpg, September 14, 2014)
Treatment of Malaria
Once a malaria diagnosis is established, it is critical to start treatment immediately, as it can be fatal. The treatment options for the disease depend upon the species of the infecting parasite and its drug-resisting status, in addition to accompanying illnesses, pregnancy, or drug allergies of the patient.
There are many antimalarial drugs available. The drug of choice for P. falciparum is chloroquine, followed by malarone or quinine plus an antibiotic like doxycycline (Tortora, Funke, & Case, 2013, p. 671). Other drugs include chloroquine, coartem, lariam, quinidine, clindamycin (used in combination with quinine), and artesunate, which is not licensed in the US (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2014).
Drug-Resistance
Recently, malaria has become resistant to some drugs typically used for treatment or prevention, most notably with P. falciparum to chloroquine. Thus, the World Health Organization recommends ACT (artemisinin-based combination therapy), where a combination of drugs is given to a patient to best delay resistance (World Health Organizaton, 2014).
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