title: [Severe malaria in pregnant women].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  to analyze the clinical course of three pregnant patients with severe malaria admitted to the intensive care unit of a hospital in Porto Velho (RO), Brazil.
  
  
  METHODS
  a descriptive study was conducted on three pregnant women infected with Plasmodium falciparum malaria, admitted to the intensive care unit of a hospital in Porto Velho from 2005 to 2006. Categorical variables used were the classification criteria of the World Health Organization which ranks severe malaria and the Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Disease Classification System II (APACHE II) and Sepsis Related Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) predictors of morbidity and severity of intensive care unit diseases.
  
  
  RESULTS
  the malaria acquired by the pregnant subjects characterized by infection with Plasmodium falciparum in its most serious form resulted in death for all three patients and their fetuses.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  although the sample of this study was small it reflects the important impact of severe malaria on pregnant women as well as the need for a more judicious and attentive prenatal care to identify the disease in its early stages and its first complications in pregnant women.
authors.affiliation: Unidade de Terapia Intensiva, Hospital Estadual e Pronto-Socorro, Porto Velho, RO, Brasil.
authors.forename: Flavia Barbosa
authors.initials: FB
authors.lastname: Fernandes
authors.forename: Reginaldo Guedes Coelho
authors.initials: RG
authors.lastname: Lopes
authors.forename: Sérgio Paulo de Mello
authors.initials: SP
authors.lastname: Mendes Filho
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016778:Malaria, Falciparum / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000628:therapy; D011247:Pregnancy; D015597:Pregnancy Complications, Parasitic / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000628:therapy; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D055815:Young Adult