Variables' definitions were: severe anaemia (Hgb < 5 g/dL), thrombocytopaenia (platelets < than 100 x10 5 / uL); acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) (acute respiratory failure defined by an acute hypoxaemia with the ratio of the partial pressure of oxygen in the patients' arterial blood (PaO 2 ) to the fraction of oxygen in the inspired air (FIO 2 ) (PaO 2 /FIO 2 ratio), less than 200 after exclusion of cardiogenic pulmonary oedema by clinical criteria or by a pulmonary capillary wedge pressure (PCWP) < 18 mm Hg in patients with a pulmonary artery (Swan-Ganz catheter); cerebral malaria (unrousable coma), acute renal failure (ARF) (creatinine > 3 mg/ dl or urine output < 400 mL/day in adults), liver dysfunction (ALT at least two times the normal value IU/ mL), hyperbilirubinaemia (bilirubin value > 2.5 mg/dL), hyponatraemia (Na < 125 mEq/mL), acidaemia (pH < 7.25), and hypoglycaemia (blood glucose < 40 mg/dL).