Background: On behalf of the Public Health Agency of Canada, the Committee to Advise on Tropical Medicine and Travel (CATMAT) developed the Canadian Recommendations for the Prevention and Treatment of Malaria Among International Travellers for Canadian health care providers who are preparing patients for travel to malaria-endemic areas and treating travellers who have returned ill. These recommendations aim to achieve appropriate diagnosis and management of malaria, a disease that is still uncommon in Canada. Objective: To provide recommendations on the appropriate diagnosis and treatment of malaria. Methods: CATMAT reviewed all major sources of information on malaria diagnosis and treatment, as well as recent research and national and international epidemiological data, to tailor guidelines to the Canadian context. The evidence-based medicine recommendations were developed with associated rating scales for the strength and quality of the evidence. Recommendations: Malarial management depends on rapid identification of the disease, as well as identification of the malaria species and level of parasitemia. Microscopic identification of blood samples is both rapid and accurate but can be done only by trained laboratory technicians. Rapid diagnostic tests are widely available, are simple to use and do not require specialized laboratory equipment or training; however, they do not provide the level of parasitemia and do require verification. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR), although still limited in availability, is emerging as the gold standard for high sensitivity and specificity in identifying the species. Severe or complicated malaria requires admission to hospital for regular monitoring of respiratory rate and pattern, coma score, and glucose and urine output, especially if the patient is unconscious. In high levels of parasitemia, exchange transfusion may be beneficial to remove infected red blood cells and toxic mediators from the circulation, and reduce the parasite load. Because of the elevated risk of severe or complicated malaria, those with a diagnosis of Plasmodium falciparum malaria should also be admitted to hospital or receive initial treatment in an observation unit.
Since December 2013, the Zaire Ebola virus disease (EVD) epidemic has ravaged West Africa. In collaboration with the Public Health Agency of Canada, healthcare workers (HCWs) and support staff from the Royal Canadian Medical Services (RCMS) of the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) were deployed to Kerry Town, Sierra Leone. A total of 79 RCMS personnel deployed over the course of the 6-month mission in collaboration with the British Armed Forces to support efforts in West Africa. The treatment centre was mandated to treat international and local HCWs exposed to the infection. The goal of the Ebola virus disease treatment unit (EVDTU) was to provide care to affected HCWs and a beacon to attract and engage foreign HCWs to work in one of the international non-governmental organisation Ebola treatment centres in Sierra Leone. We focus on the CAF experience at the Kerry Town Ebola treatment unit in Sierra Leone in particular on the various clinical skill sets demonstrated in physicians, nurses and medical technicians deployed to the EVDTU. We outline some of the staffing challenges that arose and suggest that the necessary clinical skills needed to effectively manage patients with EVD in an austere environment can be shared across a small and diverse team of healthcare providers.
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