Is albumin beneficial in children with severe malaria?
Children who get severe malaria in Africa are at a high risk of dying in hospital even though there are effective treatments. Some evidence suggests that lowered blood fluid volume is a factor in determining the outcome in these children. However, very few trials have been done that examine the best way of rehydrating children that are in shock from severe malaria, or what type of fluid should be used. In this trial, performed by a researcher from Imperial College, London Dr. Kathryn Maitland and her colleagues at The KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research unit, Kilifi, Kenya, 88 children presenting with severe malaria were given either albumin solution or gelofusine, through an intravenous line. Although the trial didn’t show any major differences in the ability of the different types of fluid to resolve shock, the research group found a lower mortality rate in the group receiving albumin. Dr Kathryn Maitland explains: “The observation that treating very sick children with severe malaria with
