Malaria

What is Malaria?

Malaria is an infectious disease contracted when an individual is bitten by a mosquito that carries the parasites. The bite transfers the microfilariae into the bloodstream and this begins the infection. Untreated malaria is dangerous and seizures, brain damage, organ failure, or inability to breathe without assistance are possible if treatment is not received.

Malaria infections are more common in the southern hemisphere of the globe, and in Africa and South Asia most prominently. Prevention is the best approach to avoiding malaria. Being vaccinated against malaria before travel to these regions is what many people choose to do to prevent the chance of getting malaria from a mosquito bite.

What Causes Malaria?

The mosquito contracts malaria itself when it bites an animal or human that is infected with it. This turns them into an active carrier, and subsequent bite recipients have a good chance of getting malaria too. A baby can have malaria at birth if the mother becomes infected in the later term of her pregnancy. A blood transfusion may also be the way a person gets malaria. In rarer instances, it may be from the use of hypodermic needles or organ donations.

Young children, seniors, and pregnant women are the groups most at risk when infected with malaria, and this may be even more true based on their age, pregnancy, and where they live or the daily activities they participate in.

Malaria Symptoms

Chest pain, headache, fever, chills, nausea, muscle aches, fatigue, diarrhea, vomiting, and difficulty breathing are the most common malaria symptoms. When malaria worsens it can result in anemia (severe body weakness), and the person may also have jaundice (yellowing of the skin).

It is usually within 10 days to 1 month after the initial infection that malaria symptoms will start to be experienced. For some infections, it can be possible for the individual to still be unaware of their malaria infection for up to a year after the mosquito bit them. Malaria also has the potential to reappear. The microfilariae can be inactive in the person’s liver and then reenter the bloodstream and cause infection years later.

Malaria Treatment

The most conventional approach to malaria treatment is to have infected individuals start on antimalarial medications like Qualaquin or Lariam. These medications are effective for parasite elimination but getting on them as soon as possible after an initial malaria infection is very important. It’s also possible that the parasites may become resistant to the drugs and won’t be so easily eliminated by them.

Artemisinin combination therapy may be recommended by a doctor if the person has plasmodium falciparum malaria. Blood tests are used to determine which type of malaria parasite the person has contracted, and which antimalarial drug is going to be best for them.