Elizabeth A., 13

Elizabeth is the third of five children in her family. Her mother passed away when Elizabeth was twelve years old and she is currently living with her father. She has a hearing disability and attends St. Mary's School for the Deaf Primary School, where her education is sponsored. Elizabeth is a cheerful and lively girl, dedicated to her studies with the goal of becoming a teacher. She was brought to the facility by a community health worker after home remedies failed to relieve her condition. She had been experiencing a severe headache, vomiting, and body aches and these have been getting worse by the day. When she was brought to the hospital, she was very weak, having not eaten for a few days and vomiting profusely.

Elizabeth was brought to the hospital exhibiting severe headaches, episodes of diarrhea, and general body ache. Her lab work revealed she was suffering from severe malaria and typhoid. Her condition warranted admission to the ward for further management. In the ward she received IV Artesunate, Flagyl, and other drugs to which she responded well. On the third day she was discharged to continue recovering at home and was prescribed some orals to take at home. A call to her parents revealed that Elizabeth was indeed fully recovered and had gone back to her normal day to day life and had even resumed her studies.

The child presented with severe vomiting, severe headache, severe abdominal pain and shortness of breath that had lasted 3 days and she was being managed with local herbs. Though ambulating, the patient looked weak, since she had skipped meals for fear of vomiting. She was febrile, not cyanosed and not pale. a diagnosis of malaria and typhoid fever was made and the patient commenced of medication. With prompt diagnosis and treatment, both malaria and typhoid fever have a good prognosis, with mortality rates significantly reduced when treatment is initiated early. However, untreated cases can be severe and even fatal.