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What are the Symptoms of Malaria?

December 14, 2011 by Malaria Q&A

QUESTION

What are malaria symptoms?

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.

For most people, symptoms begin 10 days to 4 weeks after infection, although a person may feel ill as early as 7 days or as late as 1 year later. Two kinds of malaria, P. vivax and P. ovale, can occur again (relapsing malaria). In P. vivax and P. ovale infections, some parasites can remain dormant in the liver for several months up to about 4 years after a person is bitten by an infected mosquito. When these parasites come out of hibernation and begin invading red blood cells (“relapse”), the person will become sick.

Infection with malaria parasites may result in a wide variety of symptoms, ranging from absent or very mild symptoms to severe disease and even death. Malaria disease can be categorized as uncomplicated or severe (complicated) . In general, malaria is a curable disease if diagnosed and treated promptly and correctly.

Filed Under: Malaria Q&A Tagged With: chills, cyclical fever, fever, flu-like illness, jaundice, kidney failure, Malaria Symptoms, nausea, Plasmodium Falciparum, Plasmodium Ovale, red blood cells, relapse, seizures

What do people look like when they have malaria?

December 9, 2011 by Malaria Q&A

QUESTION

What do people look like when they have malaria?

ANSWER

They look sick! When a person has malaria, they experience a flu-like illness, characterised by cycles of fevers and chills, and often accompanied by headaches and nausea. In addition, they may have jaundice (a yellowing of the skin and eyes) due to loss of red blood cells.

Filed Under: Malaria Q&A Tagged With: chills, fever, flu-like illness, headaches, jaundice, nausea, red blood cells

Symptoms of Malaria

November 24, 2011 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.

 

Filed Under: Malaria Q&A Tagged With: Cerebral Malaria, fever, flu-like illness, jaundice, Malaria Symptoms, mosquito, nausea, Plasmodium Falciparum

Malaria with Eye Pain

November 21, 2011 by Malaria Q&A

QUESTION

I am having malaria with severe eye pains. What is this?

ANSWER

Have you actually been diagnosed with malaria, or do you just think you have malaria based on the symptoms? If the latter, I would suggest you visit the doctor immediately. Eye pain is not usually associated with malaria (beyond the fact that some headaches manifest behind the eyes), whereas eye pain is a common symptom of dengue fever, which is common in many of the same parts of the world as malaria.

The other symptoms of dengue include fever and nausea and are thus similar to the general symptoms of malaria, allowing them to be mistaken for each other in some cases. If the pain worsens with eye movement, this is also characteristic of dengue fever. A key symptom is the presence of a rash, similar to that of measles.

Diagnosis is usually made based on clinical presentation, so it is crucial you see a doctor or visit a clinic. Other tests, such as a tourniquet test or a white blood cell count, can also assist diagnosis. If necessary, there are also laboratory tests, such as cell culture or PCR, which can be used to confirm the infection.

Filed Under: Malaria Q&A Tagged With: dengue fever, eye pain, flu-like illness, Malaria Symptoms, nausea, PCR, rash, tourniquet test, white blood cell count

Symptoms of Malaria

October 11, 2011 by Malaria Q&A

QUESTION

What are the symptoms of malaria?

ANSWER

The 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. Infection with one type of malaria, Plasmodium falciparum, if not promptly treated, may cause kidney failure, seizures, mental confusion, coma, and death. Since the early symptoms of malaria are very similar to many other conditions, including flu and the common cold, if you live in a malaria area it is important not to ignore these symptoms but to seek medical help and have a blood test to check for malaria early on. 

Filed Under: Malaria Q&A Tagged With: Anaemia, diagnosis, fever, flu-like illness, jaundice, Malaria Symptoms, nausea, Plasmodium Falciparum, treatment

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