delay in diagnosis of malaria because of improper effects of antibiotic therapy

although most parts of iran is free of malaria owing to appreciable struggle against this disease by the ministry of public health, in every case of fever of unknown origin (fuo) possibility of malaria should not be neglected. unjustified administration of antibiotics can delay the diagnosis because of diminishing effect in number of malaria parasites in peripheral blood. for this reason frequent peripheral blood smears may be necessary to establish the diagnosis. in this article, 10 cases of malaria (age ranged from 2 m to 12 y) were diagnosed at hazrat ali asghar hospital, mostly referred to as fuo with possible diagnosis of malignancy, within the last 10 years (1986-1996).