University of Otago researchers are helping lead a big international project to clarify the main causes of fever in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia and determine how they should be treated.
The $18million project is believed to be the largest study to tackle antimicrobial resistance and develop a blueprint for treatment.
Otago Global Health Institute co-director Prof John Crump is an investigator in the project, and said he was ''delighted'' the project was going ahead at last.
The research was likely to bring significant health benefits through improved treatment of a large, previously poorly identified group of patients who required treatment for fever which did not result from malaria, Prof Crump said.
The international researchers believe that new treatment protocols, to be developed through the project, will eventually help safely reduce prescription of antimicrobial drugs and improve patient care.
These protocols will take into account other, non-malarial causes of febrile illness, such as infections by bacteria, viruses and fungi.
The four-year Fiebre (Febrile Illness Evaluation in a Broad Range of Endemicities) global study is being co-ordinated by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
Prof Crump will work closely with collaborators at University of Medicine 1 in Myanmar to study how best to combat the burden of illness from infections that cause fever in that country.
By identifying the treatable and preventable causes of febrile illness in the region, the researchers aim to design new evidence-based guidelines for fever management.
This will ensure patients receive drugs that give them the best chance of recovery, and help stop the spread of antimicrobial resistance, a major global health problem.
Until recently, most febrile illness in Africa and Asia was attributed to malaria, but improved diagnostics had revealed that most patients with a fever did not in fact have malaria, he said.
The study is funded by the UK Department for International Development.
The research will be undertaken by the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Universities of Oxford, Barcelona and Otago, and partner institutions within five study countries: Laos, Malawi, Mozambique, Myanmar and Zimbabwe.
