Initial work up for malaria in the ED by rapid diagnostic test (RDT) demonstrated positive pan-Plasmodium aldolase and negative P. falciparum-specific histidine-rich protein-2 (HRP-2) antigen, which, coupled with his travel history, was most suggestive of a non-falciparum malaria, given few cases of HRP-2 mutant strains of P. falciparum from the Indian subcontinent. This evidence concerns the gene HDGFL2 and malaria.