Clinical relevance of low-density Plasmodium falciparum parasitemia in untreated febrile children: A cohort study.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Low-density (LD) Plasmodium infections are missed by standard malaria rapid diagnostic tests (standard mRDT) when the blood antigen concentration is below the detection threshold. The clinical impact of these LD infections is unknown. This study investigates the clinical presentation and outcome of untreated febrile children with LD infections attending primary care facilities in a moderately endemic area of Tanzania.

Methods/findings

This cohort study includes 2,801 febrile pediatric outpatients (median age 13.5 months [range 2-59], female:male ratio 0.8:1.0) recruited in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania between 01 December 2014 and 28 February 2016. Treatment decisions were guided by a clinical decision support algorithm run on a mobile app, which also collected clinical

SUBMITTER: Hartley MA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7505590 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature