All ICD10 Codes
B54Billable, valid for claims from October 1, 2026

Unspecified malaria

In Protozoal diseases (B50-B64), chapter 1: Certain Infectious and Parasitic Diseases

  • B54 is an unspecified code: use it only when the record doesn't document anything more specific. If the record has more detail, check the other codes under B50-B64 below.
  • As a secondary diagnosis it is a CC (complication or comorbidity), which can raise the MS-DRG payment. It doesn't count when the principal diagnosis is one of 32 closely related codes.
  • Doesn't count toward a Medicare Advantage risk score (no HCC in V28).
  • AHRQ's Chronic Condition Indicator classes it as not chronic (an acute or short-term condition).
  • 16 US deaths in 2024 had an underlying cause in category B54, per the National Vital Statistics System on CDC WONDER. Death records use WHO ICD-10, so the count is for the whole category.

Also indexed as: Anemia, malarial; Anemia, marsh; Anemia, paludal; Chill, congestive in malarial regions; Disorder, liver, malarial; Malaria; Malaria, clinically diagnosed; Malaria, congestion, congestive; Malaria, hemorrhagic; Malaria, recurrent; Malaria, remittent; Malaria, spleen; Malaria, typhoid; Remittent fever; Splenitis, malarial; Splenomegaly, malarial

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Instructional notes

Also applies, from Protozoal diseases (B50-B64)

These notes sit on B50-B64 and apply to every code under it, including B54.

Excludes1: not coded here, use a different code

  • amebiasis (A06.-)
  • other protozoal intestinal diseases (A07.-)

Official coding guidelines

From the ICD-10-CM Official Guidelines for Coding and Reporting, FY 2027 (CMS and NCHS). Links open the PDF at the right page.

Rules for coding infections and parasitic diseases, including HIV, organism and drug resistance codes, sepsis and septic shock, MRSA, Zika, and COVID-19.

Read Section I.C.1 (page 19)

Other codes under B50-B64

Protozoal diseases (B50-B64)

B54 MS-DRGs

As the principal diagnosis, B54 groups to MS-DRG 867, 868, or 869 (v44.0). Which one applies depends on procedures performed, secondary diagnoses (CC/MCC), and the patient's age and discharge status.

Related conditions

Grouped by AHRQ's Clinical Classifications Software Refined (CCSR), which sorts every diagnosis code into clinically meaningful categories.

B54 is in Parasitic, other specified and unspecified infections (INF009, its default category), with 254 codes. Others in it:

  • A06.0 Acute amebic dysentery
  • A06.1 Chronic intestinal amebiasis
  • A06.2 Amebic nondysenteric colitis
  • A06.3 Ameboma of intestine
  • A06.4 Amebic liver abscess
  • A06.5 Amebic lung abscess
  • A06.6 Amebic brain abscess
  • A06.7 Cutaneous amebiasis

Other codes that refer to B54

Notes on these codes point to B54.

  • D63.8 Code First: malaria (B50.0-B54)
  • D77 Code First: malaria (B50.0-B54)

About the condition

Plain-language background from MedlinePlus (National Library of Medicine), not coding guidance.

Malaria

Malaria is a serious disease caused by a parasite. You get it when an infected mosquito bites you. Malaria is a major cause of death worldwide, but it is almost wiped out in the United States. The disease is mostly a problem in developing countries with warm climates. If you travel to these countries, you are at risk. There are four different types of malaria caused by four related parasites. The most deadly type occurs in Africa south of the Sahara Desert.

Read more about malaria on MedlinePlus

Code history

Valid since FY2016, when ICD-10-CM took effect on October 1, 2015. No changes since.

ICD-9-CM equivalent

Legacy crosswalk from the CMS General Equivalence Mappings (last updated 2018).

  • 084.6 Malaria, unspecified
ICD-9 to ICD-10 converter