QUESTION

My dad is not well from last one month. In the evening time he feels headache, neck pain and 102 Temp.

Can you please tell me can it be Malaria.

ANSWER

Those symptoms can be characteristic of malaria—cyclical fever is a key symptom, though usually the cycles are every other day or even every third day (depending on the type of malaria). However, in some cases the cycles are more frequent or the patient may even have constant fever.

One of the difficulties with diagnosing malaria is that its symptoms are very general and can therefore be mistaken for many other illnesses. Likewise, in areas of high malaria transmission, doctors may assume a feverish illness is malaria without thinking about other possible diseases. As such, it is crucial that you take your father for a blood test, which is the only accurate way to diagnose malaria.

The doctor or clinician will either make a blood film and look at it under the microscope, or use a tiny drop of blood in a rapid diagnostic test. Either way, it is important for them to see evidence of a malaria infection before they give your father treatment. The diagnostic test should also show which type of malaria your father has (if indeed he has malaria), and this will also help to determine which is the most appropriate type of medication.