Congenital Malaria in Non-Endemic Settings: A Literature Review and Update on Diagnosis and Management

We propose the definition of CM as 'A peripheral blood smear of neonatal blood with asexual forms of Plasmodium spp. OR DNA of Plasmodium spp. detected; presenting in an infant <28 days old, irrespective of clinical symptoms/travel history OR an infant <1 year old with no history of travel to a malaria endemic area' and outline a novel algorithm for follow-up of pregnant women with malaria and investigation of neonates for CM. This algorithm highlights the importance of using polymerase chain reaction to investigate neonates, who may have very low parasitaemia, below the limit of detection of light microscopy.