Stephanie O., 3

Stephanie is a 3-year-old girl who has not yet started school. She is cheerful, playful, and sociable. She enjoys dancing with her friends and is friendly to everyone she meets. For the past week, Stephanie has experienced general body weakness, night sweats, coughing, scleral jaundice, and a runny nose. She was brought to the hospital for evaluation, where a malaria test returned positive. She was diagnosed with severe malaria and an acute upper respiratory tract infection and was admitted for further management.

Following her admission, Stephanie was promptly started on intravenous fluids for severe dehydration, antimalarials, antibiotics, and pain relief. She received IV paracetamol stat, IV artesunate 33 mg at 0, 12, and 24 hours, and IV ceftriaxone 550 mg once daily for five days. Additionally, she was given oral multivitamin syrup and oral paracetamol. Stephanie began showing signs of improvement by the fourth day. She was continued on ceftriaxone as scheduled. The next morning, she woke feeling well with no complaints and was subsequently discharged with prescriptions for AL (I), cefalexin syrup, and Piriton 5 ml. During a follow-up call, her mother reported that Stephanie has fully returned to her normal health status.

Stephanie’s prognosis is generally good, provided she continues to receive prompt and complete treatment for severe malaria and the accompanying upper respiratory tract infection. Severe malaria can be life-threatening, but with early admission like in Stephanie's case, with appropriate antimalarial therapy, and close monitoring, most children recover fully.