How Could Fluids Save Lives In Children With Malaria?

Hundreds of thousands of children die in Africa every year from severe malaria. Because one of the common symptoms is brain swelling, physicians have been treating the children by restricting their fluid intake. New research from an 8-year study in Kenya has shown that the opposite strategy could save lives on a massive scale.

Scientists have discovered that fluid replacement therapy that includes the protein albumin (a molecule that holds water inside blood vessels) could prevent 80% of deaths. In two preliminary studies, a remarkable reduction in mortality was observed in children receiving albumin resuscitation, with under 5 per cent of the children who received albumin dying - whereas conventional treatments are associated with 20-40 per cent mortality rates.

However, a shocking reality is that, for African countries, getting albumin takes money and larger trials involving over 1000 children are now needed to prove to the authorities that these results are reproducible. In the meantime, the children will continue to die in their thousands.