The impact of providing rapid diagnostic malaria tests on fever management in the private retail sector in Ghana: a cluster randomized trial

On a slightly different slant, it is also improtant to note that those from areas where malaria is endemic can have a background level of malarial parasitaemia. Therefore, if they present with fever and have a positive blood film for malaria, it should be remembered that the cause of their current presentation may not necessarily be malaria. Such patients may be have acute meningitis or penumonia, for example. If, on finding that the malaria film is positive and investigation therefore stops there and these are not diagnosed and therefore not treated, such patients can tragically die from these.