[Diagnostic protocol for imported febrile syndrome]

In this protocol we shall set out the steps to follow in the clinical assessment of the patient with fever and where there is an epidemiological history of travel to tropical or subtropical areas. This is not intended to be exhaustive, but as a guide to doctors in their initial diagnostic approach to the patient who has come from the tropics consulting with a fever in the Emergency Department or the hospital ward. Differential diagnosis should be approached first and foremost on the basis of excluding malaria, but haemorrhagic fevers, rickettsiosis, typhoid fever and many other infections, some that are unique to tropical areas, and others that are cosmopolitan but more prevalent in such areas should also be taken into account.