Differences in presentation of severe malaria in urban and rural Gabon.

There are rare comparative studies of the clinical and laboratory features of severe and moderate malaria, including predictors of poor outcome, in rural and urban areas for regions of high malaria transmission. We therefore studied 2,235 children hospitalized for malaria in a rural (Lambaréné) and an urban (Libreville) area in Gabon between January 2001 and December 2002. From children screened, 33% and 48% were hospitalized for malaria in Libreville and Lambaréné, respectively (P < 0.