Diagnosis of malaria or another condition?

QUESTION:

Patient is responding to malaria intravenous medicines but the blood test are not showing any strains of malaria parasites.
Is it possible it is malaria or some other disease?

ANSWER:

I’m afraid it is hard to answer this without more information regarding what steps have been taken to diagnose infection, what medication is being given, and what other clinical information is available. Intravenous medication for malaria is usually quinine or artesunate, and it is unlikely that any medical institution or practitioner would give these unless they had seen malaria on testing, as these agents are generally reserved for severe disease. Another thought is that they are using doxycycline, which is an antibiotice with a broader spectrum of use, and the patient’s improvement is due to the drug taking care of something else other than malaria (Babesia, Bartonella, Borrelia).