Malaria Symptoms
What is Malaria?
Malaria is parasitic disease transmitted due to mosquitoes from one person to another. Some times this disease is life threatening. When the mosquito (infectious) bites, malaria parasites transmits to that person and person becomes ill. Other mosquitoes bite to the infected person and pick up the parasite and then transmit to other persons.
Fever, headache and aching are the primary malaria symptoms. The malaria symptoms are same as that of other diseases and therefore they are confusing. If proper treatment is not given then malaria leads to organ damage, severe anemia, coma, convulsions and death.
The people living in poorest area in the world can suffer from the malaria and they are approximately 40 percent. This is wide spreading disease, but in some of the some of the countries it is eliminated completely during 20th century by maintaining the temperature. Now days malaria is found in tropical and non-tropical areas of the world and occurs acute illness of 300 million and annual death near about 1 million..
Malaria is transferred by female mosquitoes because male mosquitoes don't transmit the infection because they are not developed for biting and can not cut the skin.
Four species of malaria parasites are present. A parasite is one of the organism which lives in another organism. From these four species of the malaria, three species are found in India.
Following are 4 species of malaria:
- Plasmodium Vivax that may cause relapsing malaria but seldom death (50-55% of total reported cases)
- P. Malariae that may cause severe malaria (small numbers found in foothills in Orissa)
- P. Falciparum that causes malignant malaria and may lead to death (48-52% of total cases) and
- P. Ovale (not found in India)
Generally 0.5 percent to 2 percent of P. Falciparum cases can create severe malaria with the complications. Rate of death in these cases are near about 30 percent or more than that if the proper treatment is not given. In India, malaria mortality is only because of P. Falciparum. In the rainy season, the chances of malaria are more because populations of mosquitoes are highest.
Causes of Malaria:
The main cause of malaria is female mosquitoes. It carries plasmodium parasite in the body that transmit the malaria. When mosquito bites to human, it inserts small amount of saliva in blood stream of the human. The parasites are contained in the saliva that moves from person's blood stream to the liver. Reproduction of parasite takes place there. Again they leave the liver and moves back to the blood stream. In blood stream they starts to cause the malaria symptoms.
Malaria can not directly transmit from person to person but it transfers through the mosquitoes. A mosquito bites to one infected person with the malaria parasite. When it takes some blood, it also takes some parasites. If same mosquito bites to another uninfected person, then it transfers to that person.
Because of blood transfusion, malaria may also transfer. If blood is donated by the infected person, then it contains the parasites.
The incubation period of the malaria is different for different persons. Incubation period means the time between the bite of mosquito and time for displaying the malaria symptoms. The incubation period also depends on the amount of parasite involved.
Malaria Symptoms:
The following malaria symptoms are experiences in the persons who are suffering from malaria:
- First stage (Cold stage): This is characterized by immediate onset of fever with strictness and sensation of the extreme cold. The patient desires to cover with the blankets. This uncontrollable condition lasts after some hours.
- Second stage (Hot stage): The temperature of the may rises to the 41o C. The patient feels too burning hot and casts off the clothes. Headache is also very severe. This condition lasts after toe to six hours.
- Third stage (Sweating stage): With the profuse sweating, fever comes down. This condition lasts after the two to four hours.
Other malaria symptoms may include fatigue, nausea, severe headache, and vomiting. After the third stage, the patient may falls sleeping from the tiredness.
Above three stages are repeated with the particular periods and varied from the particular days such as, two days later or the every 3rd day or at some of later time. Latency periods last after several weeks or several months.
In some of the cases, the classical symptoms which are mentioned above may not appear. Any type of infection leads to the fever, at the time of epidemics; it is good to test all types of fever under the microscope. This guaranteed that fever does not missed among fever cases and those cases in which malaria can found, take the proper malaria treatment.
Diagnosis of Malaria:
Blood test is the useful test for diagnosing the malaria. For the confirmation of diagnosis, blood test is repeated after 72 hours. Above three stages are also responsible for diagnosing the disease. The person living in common area of malaria and who has fever, chills and very high temperature, those people should have to take immediate blood test.
Treatment of Malaria:
Malaria may be treated using the drugs. The treatment of the malaria is very complicated because different types of malaria require different types of drugs.
Quinine is a classic type of treatment used for the malaria. Quinine is effective for particular types of malaria, but other parasites developed resistance to the quinine.
When quinine is ineffective then different types of drugs (antibiotics) are used for the treatment. These drugs are clindamycin, tetracycline, mefloquine, or sulfadoxine/ pyrimethamine. Chloroquine is advanced type of quinine. This type is also used. Special treatment or hospitalizations are required for the patient in case of serious malaria.
The deadliest form of malaria can be caused because of speedily spreading resistance of P. Falciparum parasites. For existence, different drugs are used such as artemisinin combination. Do not treat malaria own because some of the times it becomes life threatening. For the correct treatment and correct medications, past medical history and identification of particular kind of parasite are very important.
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