[Malaria. Experience at a general hospital]. / Paludismo. Experiencia en un hospital general.

General hospitals should not ignore tropical diseases, even if they are not directly concerned with them. In our area, 3 and 6 instances of malaria have been diagnosed per year, 13 cases having been observed during the last 3 years. Prognosis is related with the quickness in achieving the diagnosis after the onset of symptoms; in our series it ranged from 4 days and one month. The outcome was good in all cases. To keep a reasonable good suspicion level, it should be remembered that the latency period between the infection and the development of symptoms may be very long. In 4 patients, the symptoms began 6 or more months after the patient had returned from the endemic zone. Chemoprophylaxis does not prevent the development of the disease in all individuals, although it is an effective prophylactic measure. Eight of these 13 patients had not undergone chemoprophylaxis or it had been incorrect. There was a remarkably high rate of patients infected by Pl. falciparum strains with in vivo resistance to antimalarial agents (chloroquine and fansidar).