BACKGROUND: Malaria remains one of the most serious @entity281 for travellers to tropical countries. Due to the lack of harmonized guidelines a large variety of treatment regimens is used in Europe to treat severe @entity311 . METHODS: The European Network for @entity283 ( @entity283 ) conducted an 8-year, multicentre, observational study to analyse epidemiology, treatment practices and outcomes of severe @entity311 in its member sites across Europe. Physicians at participating @entity283 centres were asked to report pseudonymized retrospective data from all @entity1 treated at their centre for microscopically confirmed severe @entity3964 @entity311 according to the 2006 WHO criteria. RESULTS: From 2006 to 2014 a total of 185 @entity1 with severe @entity311 treated in 12 European countries were included. Three @entity1 died, resulting in a 28-day survival rate of 98.4%. The majority of @entity281 were acquired in West Africa (109/185, 59%). The proportion of @entity1 treated with intravenous @entity506 increased from 27% in 2006 to 60% in 2013. Altogether, 56 different combinations of intravenous and oral drugs were used across 28 study centres. The risk of @entity810 (36 vs 17% p  =  0.04) or @entity6197 (54 vs 20%, p  =  0.001) was significantly higher in @entity1  >= 60  years than in younger @entity1 . Respiratory distress with the need for mechanical ventilation was significantly associated with the risk of @entity204 in the study population (13 vs 0%, p  =  0.001). Post-artemisinin delayed haemolysis was reported in 19/70 (27%) @entity1 treated with intravenous @entity506 . CONCLUSION: The majority of @entity1 with severe @entity311 in this study were tourists or migrants acquiring the infection in West Africa. Intravenous @entity506 is increasingly used for treatment of severe @entity311 in many European treatment centres and can be given safely to European @entity1 with severe @entity311 . @entity1 treated with intravenous @entity506 should be followed up to detect and manage late haemolytic events.

Severe XXXX in Europe: an 8-year multi-centre observational study.

@entity1 :: ('9606', 'Species') :: ['Patients', 'patients'] @entity283 :: ('OMIM:603663', 'Disease') :: ['TropNet', 'Tropical Medicine and Travel Health'] @entity281 :: ('MESH:D007239', 'Disease') :: ['infections'] @entity6197 :: ('MESH:D016779', 'Disease') :: ['cerebral malaria'] @entity810 :: ('MESH:D058186', 'Disease') :: ['acute renal failure'] @entity3964 :: ('5833', 'Species') :: ['Plasmodium falciparum'] @entity506 :: ('MESH:C039726', 'Chemical') :: ['artesunate'] @entity311 :: ('MESH:D008288', 'Disease') :: ['malaria'] @entity204 :: ('MESH:D003643', 'Disease') :: ['death']
@entity311 :: (MESH:D008288,Disease) :: ['malaria']
