by Malaria Q&A
QUESTION
what are effects of malaria?
ANSWER
If a person becomes infected with malaria, they may start to experience the symptoms of the disease. These include high fever, aches, chills, nausea, headache, and sometimes more severe manifestations, such as severe anemia, impaired consciousness and even coma or death. These latter severe effects are more commonly associated with Plasmodium falciparum infection, the most deadly form of malaria.
by Malaria Q&A
QUESTION
For the last couple of days I am suffering from all the symptoms that are mentioned on your website and I am taking tylenol for these symptoms thinking that it is flu but I am feeling better now. Should I still see a doctor or keep taking Tylenol?
ANSWER
Symptoms of malaria often include high fever, aches, chills, nausea, and headache. When severe, malaria can lead to anemia, impaired consciousness and even coma or death. The best course of action is to get a simple blood test to check if you have malaria, because if you do have it, early treatment with the appropriate drug (for the type of malaria you have), is essential.
You should also know how to prevent getting malaria. The first thing to do is to make sure you are protecting yourself sufficiently from mosquito bites. You can’t get malaria if you aren’t bitten by mosquitoes, and the type of mosquitoes that transmit malaria usually bite at night. As such, it is crucial to sleep every night under a long-lasting insecticide treated bednet. If you have one, it might need to be re-dipped in insecticide to make sure it keeps working effectively. Also, you should make sure all your windows and doors are properly screened to prevent mosquitoes from coming in; many people also do something called “indoor residual spraying” where they spray insecticide on the walls inside their house to kill any mosquitoes which might come in. If you live in an urban area, this might not be necessary if you can get good screens, or indeed if you have air conditioning (mosquitoes do not like cooler environments). Finally, you should try to wear long-sleeved clothing in the evenings and at night, again to stop mosquitoes from biting.
by Malaria Q&A
QUESTION
What medicine is good for curing malaria?
ANSWER
There are lots of different types of medication which are effective against malaria. However, for uncomplicated, unsevere cases, the World Health Organization (WHO) recommends using a type of medication called artemisinin-based combination therapy, or ACT. Again, there are many types of ACTs, so the name may vary depending on what is most common in your area, but some widespread brands include Coartem, Lonart, Duo-Cotecxin, etc. In some countries, they are known by an abbreviation of the drug name – for example, in Tanzania, the most common ACT is a combination of artemether and lumefantrine, and the different brands are collectively known as Alu.
For severe or complicated malaria (there is no hard and fast definition, but the clinical diagnosis may include cerebral involvement, seizure, coma, inability to take oral medication, severe anaemia, etc), the WHO recommends intravenous (IV) artesunate, with quinine as a second choice.
There are also additional forms of treatment which may be used in certain settings, depending on the geographical region and the type of malaria, or if one of the above treatments is not successful. Likewise, pregnant women should not take ACTs, so they need to seek alternative forms of treatment, such as chloroquine (if the local malaria is known to be sensitive), mefloquine or sulfadoxine-pyremethamine.
by Malaria Q&A
QUESTION
What are the long term and short term effects of malaria in brief please?
ANSWER
The symptoms of malaria as an acute infection vary somewhat depending on the type of malaria, but usual signs include high fever (often in a cyclical pattern, with fever one day, then no fever for one or two days, then a recurrence of fever), chills, body aches and nausea.
For Plasmodium falciparum, the most deadly form of malaria, the infection can progress rapidly if left untreated, with organ failure, impaired consciousness, coma and even death occurring as quickly as a few days after the onset of symptoms.
If the patient is able to survive the infection, or gets treatment in time, there are usually no long term affects of malaria infection. Some people who have suffered severe cerebral malaria (from P. falciparum) may experience some longer term neurological effects. Other types of malaria, such as P. ovale and P. vivax, can form dormant life stages which hide in the liver for weeks, months or even years, leading to relapse at a later date. However, apart from these recurrences, there are also no long term effects of infection with these types of malaria.
by Malaria Q&A
QUESTION
Please tell me the symptoms of malaria.
ANSWER
Symptoms of malaria include fever and flu-like illness, including shaking chills, headache, muscle aches, and tiredness. Due to the way in which the malaria parasite reproduces in the human body, fevers occurring in a cyclical fashion (i.e. high fever one day, no fever the next day, then recurrence of fever on the third or fourth day, depending on the type of malaria) are a characteristic symptom of malaria, but may not be present in all cases. Nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea may also occur. Malaria may cause anemia and jaundice (yellow coloring of the skin and eyes) because of the loss of red blood cells. Symptoms usually appear between 10 and 15 days after the mosquito bite. If not treated, malaria can quickly become life-threatening by disrupting the blood supply to vital organs. When blood supply to the brain is disrupted during malarial infection, the resulting condition, characterised by seizures, mental confusion, coma, and death, is known as “cerebral malaria”, and is associated with Plasmodium falciparum, the most deadly form of malaria.
Please check your article: Symptoms and Causes of Malaria
by Malaria Q&A
QUESTION
I live in Nigeria. Good friend of mine complained of headaches in Dec 2011. Did an MRI went to Germany had a general check up. Back in Nigeria in January, headaches increase, she gets blind in one eye, following day the other eye, now in Germany where they have induced her into a coma. They said that she got a brain Haemorrage from the malaria. Can malaria bring blindness. What are the chances of surviving and getting back eyesight.
ANSWER
Although rare, brain hemorrhage is sometimes associated with severe cerebral malaria (caused by infection with Plasmodium falciparum, the most deadly form of malaria). This bleeding in the brain could cause blindness—whether the visual impairment is permanent or not depends on the extent of the bleeding and how much damage it caused.
I have found one case in the literature where severe malaria caused a brain hemorrhage which resulted in permanent blindness, and the authors report their case is only the second they have heard of, so this is rare indeed. Similarly, her survival will depend on how well she responds to treatment, which will likely be intravenous quinine, at least at first. Given that she is in Germany, where health care is excellent, I would say her chances are as good as they would be anywhere else in the world. I hope she makes a full and swift recovery!
by Malaria Q&A
QUESTION
What are the symptoms of malaria?
ANSWER
Symptoms of malaria include fever and flu-like illness, including shaking chills, headache, muscle aches, and tiredness. Nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea may also occur. Malaria may cause anemia and jaundice (yellow coloring of the skin and eyes) because of the loss of red blood cells.
Symptoms usually appear between 10 and 15 days after the mosquito bite. If not treated, malaria can quickly become life-threatening by disrupting the blood supply to vital organs. Infection with one type of malaria, Plasmodium falciparum, if not promptly treated, may cause kidney failure, seizures, mental confusion, coma, and death. In many parts of the world, the parasites have developed resistance to a number of malaria medicines.
by Malaria Q&A
QUESTION
My sister is in a coma and doctors said its malaria. She is on life support system. Will she come out of it? The liver and kidneys have been affected.
ANSWER
Without more information, I am afraid it is impossible to know what the prognosis will be. Is she receiving treatment for the malaria? For cases of this severity, intravenous quinine is often the first-line treatment for malaria.
by Malaria Q&A
QUESTION
Is there any evidence that successfully treated malaria (when young or a young adult), has any deleterious effects for patients in their 70s and 80s? Is risk of vascular disease, stroke, or MIs any greater?
ANSWER
I don’t think there is any evidence for any long-term deleterious effects of malaria that was successfully treated, particularly if the malaria infection was non-complicated and did not result at the time in any severe cerebral complications (coma, impaired consciousness, etc).
by Malaria Q&A
QUESTION
How long does it take malaria to reach your brain?
ANSWER
The process by which malaria affects the brain is complicated, and the amount of time also varies. First of all, only one species of malaria parasite is associated with the brain – this is Plasmodium falciparum, the most deadly form of malaria. It is dangerous because when it infects red blood cells, it makes them “sticky,” so that they become lodged in the small blood vessels in the body’s organs. This process is called sequestration, and results in reduced blood flow to the organs, which can result in further complications.
When infected red blood cells sequester in the brain, the result is so-called “cerebral malaria,” which can lead to impaired consciousness, coma and even death. P. falciparum reproduces rapidly, so if not treated promptly, cerebral manifestations of the infection could appear within a matter of a few days of the initial onset of malaria symptoms. The good news is that treatment is very safe and effective, especially when started early, so when malaria is suspected as the possible cause of an illness, a blood test should be performed immediately to test for malaria, and also to determine if the species is P. falciparum.
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