Malaria Information, symptoms, causes & Treatment of Malaria

What is Malaria?

Malaria is a serious disease that causes high fever and chills. You can get malaria from a bite by an infected mosquito. It is most often found in Africa, Southern Asia, Central America, and South America

Types of Malaria Fever

There are four main types of malaria. These are

• vivax,
• falciparum,
• malariae and
• ovale.

Causes of Malaria

A bite from a mosquito infected with certain parasites causes malaria. In extremely rare cases, people can get malaria if they come into contact with infected blood, or an unborn baby (fetus) may get the disease from its mother. You cannot get malaria by being near a person who has the disease.

Symptoms of Malaria

• Fever,high and relapsing, often calledtertiary or quartan fever, depending on whether spikes of fever recur every the 3rd or 4th day.
• The appearance of fever correspondsto the releaseof parasites from the destroyed RBCs.
• In endemic areas, fever may be mild, with a sense of"feeling ill" being the main complaint.
• Headache, bodyache are common.
• Anemia is often what brings the patient to medical attention.
• Severe malaria, a life-threatening condition, is most often caused by P.falciparum infection.
• Cerebral malaria is complicated by a change in consciousness, and further affects the functioning of all the vital organs.

Treatment of Malaria

Treatment for malaria, as has been mention above, is quinine, but a large number of cases develop complications like loss of hearing (which, fortunately, is temporary in most cases of malaria), anorexia and a feeling of unease.

The treatment of malaria is the same as foe all other accute fevers. if the temperature goes beyond 105 degree F the body of the patient should be wrapped in a sheet dipped in iced water to bring down the fever. The moment the temerature of the malaria patient is lowered to 102 degree F the iced water routine should be abandoned.

Tips for Preventing Malaria

You may prevent malaria by taking medicine before, during, and after travel to an area where malaria is present and by protecting yourself against mosquito bites. But, using medicine to prevent malaria does not always work.