Fever in the returning traveller
Where, when and what they did. Exclude falciparum malaria the same day, use incubation periods to narrow the list, isolate early for measles and viral haemorrhagic fever, and know the parasites behind fever with eosinophilia.
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Written with AI assistance and fact-checked against the sources below. For exam study, not clinical decisions. How notes are made
At a glance
- Falciparum malaria first. Anyone with fever who has been in a malarious area in the past 12 months, most of all the past 3 months, needs thick and thin films and a rapid antigen test today. One negative set doesn't exclude it.
- Three questions narrow everything: where (region, rural or urban), when (incubation from first to last exposure) and what they did (fresh water, animals, sex, food, insect bites, healthcare).
- Malaria, dengue and enteric fever account for nearly three-quarters of identified causes in case series (CDC Yellow Book 2026). GeoSentinel data show the regional pattern: malaria after sub-Saharan Africa, dengue after Asia and Latin America. In at least a quarter, no cause is found.
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Sources
- Therapeutic Guidelines: Antibiotic. Fever in returned travellers, malaria, enteric feverAU/NZTherapeutic Guidelines Limited (eTG complete), 2025 to 2026 staged update (topic version not verified)
- CDC Yellow Book 2026: Fever in returned travelers; Post-travel evaluation of the ill travelerUS Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2026 edition (chapter dated April 2025)
- GeoSentinel surveillance of illness in returned travelers, 2007-2011 (Leder et al.)Annals of Internal Medicine, 2013
- Australian national notifiable diseases listAU/NZAustralian Government Department of Health, Disability and Ageing, Accessed November 2026
- CDNA Series of National Guidelines (SoNGs), including viral haemorrhagic feversAU/NZCommunicable Diseases Network Australia, Accessed November 2026
- Last updated
- 14 November 2026
What changed
- 14 November 2026 Turnstile bot check on sign-in and signed-out feedback