Doctors at Bach Mai Hospital in Hanoi said on Friday thay they had successfully saved a foreigner who had been diagnosed with malignant malaria, a rare disease that has practically been eradicated in Vietnam, after a field trip.

The 64-year-old Belgian male patient has a number of underlying conditions, including heart failure caused by a myocardial infarction, hypertension, diabetes, and an extremely unusual blood type: Rh negative.

He is an agricultural professor who has traveled to several countries and made significant contributions to agricultural studies in Vietnam.

According to the patient’s medical history, he showed symtomps of high fever and diarrhea after returning to Vietnam on September 17 from a business trip to Ivory Coast to implement a series of cashew nut projects.

The patient was then brought to a hospital in Hanoi, where he was discovered to have a very low platelet count and intermittent cardiac arrhythmias.

He was transported to the intensive care unit at Bach Mai Hospital due to his complicated condition and multiple underlying disorders.

Nguyen Ba Cuong, doctor at the intensive care unit at Bach Mai who was in charge of treating the patient, stated that the Belgian was admitted to the hospital in critical condition, with a low platelet count, dengue hemorrhagic fever, and acute heart failure.

After two days of intensive care and no improvement in the patient's condition, doctors decided to adopt the most advanced technique in intensive care which is extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), or outside-the-body life support.

Doctors at Bach Mai Hospital’s intensive care unit saw that the disease's progression did not resemble that of dengue hemorrhagic fever, so they consulted their colleagues from different departments in the hospital.

The patient was then diagnosed with malignant malaria complications and multi-organ failure as a result of the consultants' evaluation.

He was then administered antimalarial medications, received a blood transfusion, and had ECMO maintained.

After eight days of receiving ECMO and around 20 liters of Rh negative blood type, the patient's health steadily improved.

He was removed from ECMO on October 4 and his mechanical ventilation was stopped on October 9.

After four weeks of treatment, the patient had successfully recovered from the life-threatening condition, while his symptoms were steadily improving.

The patient was transported to another hospital on Thursday and will be treated there until he is healthy enough to return to Belgium.

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