Malaria Disease : Causes, Symptoms, Treatment & Prevention

What is Malaria?

When a mosquito bites you, it transmits the deadly parasitic disease known as malaria. When a mosquito bites you, it injects malaria parasites into your bloodstream. Not a virus or a particular sort of bacteria, rather parasites are what cause malaria.

Malaria can result in serious health issues such as convulsions, brain damage, breathing difficulties, organ failure, and even death if it is not treated.

Who might acquire malaria?

Malaria can affect everyone, although African residents are more likely to contract it than other people. Malaria increases the risk of death in pregnant women, young children, and older adults. Complications from the condition are more likely to occur in those who are poor and lack access to healthcare.

Causes of Malaria

A mosquito gets infected when it bites a person who has malaria. The parasite the mosquito carries enters the bloodstream of the person it bites. The parasites grow there. Humans can contract one of five different types of malaria parasites.

In some instances, women who are pregnant and have malaria may pass the illness to their unborn children.

Although rare, malaria can spread through hypodermic needles, organ transplants, and blood transfusions.

Malaria Symptoms

Malaria symptoms are similar to flu symptoms. They consist of:

• Fever and sweating
• Your entire body shakes with the chills
• Muscle pains and headaches
• Cough, difficulty breathing, and chest pain
• Vomiting, nausea, and diarrhea
• Anemia and jaundice can develop as malaria worsens (yellowing of the skin and whites of the eyes).
• Cerebral malaria is the most severe type of disease, which can lead to a coma. About 15% of deaths in children and over 20% of deaths in adults are of this sort.

How soon after contracting malaria do symptoms appear?

Once a person has been infected with malaria, symptoms typically start to show 10–30 days later. Symptoms might vary in severity depending on the type of parasite. A year after the mosquito bite, some people still don't feel ill. Parasites can remain inactive in the body for years at a time without showing any signs of life.

Depending on the parasite, several kinds of malaria can reoccur. The parasites are inactive in your liver for years before being discharged into your bloodstream. When the parasites start moving around, the symptoms start up again.

How is malaria identified?

Your medical professional will examine you and inquire about your symptoms and previous travel experiences.

Your health professional will take blood from you and send it to a lab to be examined for malaria parasites. The blood test will show your doctor whether you have malaria and the kind of parasite that is causing your symptoms. This information will help your provider choose the correct course of treatment.

Malaria Treatment

Malaria treatment must begin as quickly as possible. To kill the malaria parasite, your doctor will prescribe drugs.

Drugs used to treat malaria include:

• Drug artemisinin (artemether and artesunate)
• Mepron® (atovaquone)
• Doxycycline (Oracea®, Monodox®, and Doxy-100®)

(*Please take any medication prescription only after consulting with your doctor.)

What harmful effects can malaria treatments cause?

Drugs used to treat malaria may have negative effects If you take any other medications, be sure to let your doctor know because antimalarial medications may interact with them.

The following negative effects are possible with various medications:

• GI problems, such as diarrhea and motion sickness
• Increased sensitivity to sunlight
• Sleeplessness and unpleasant dreams
• Diseases of the mind and eyesight issues
• An earache that ringers (tinnitus)

Malaria Prevention

To prevent mosquito bites, you should also take precautions. In to lower your risk of getting malaria, you should:

1. Use insect repellent containing DEET (diethyltoluamide) to keep mosquitoes away from exposed skin.
2. Net mattresses against mosquitoes.
3. Put screens in the windows and doors.
4. Use insect repellent permethrin on your clothing, mosquito nets, tents, sleeping bags, and other items.
5. Put on pants and long sleeves to protect your skin.
6. Take a vaccine to prevent malaria
7. In a research study, a vaccine for kids was created and tested in Ghana, Kenya, and Malawi. Children who acquire Plasmodium falciparum malaria, which is a serious illness, can be protected with the RTS, S/AS01 vaccination.

Malaria Vaccine

Is there a malaria vaccine?

The only approved malaria vaccine, as of now is RTS, S/AS01 a recombinant protein-based malaria vaccine known by the brand name Mosquirix. WHO first time recommended the large-scale use of a malaria vaccine for children living in areas with moderate-to-high malaria transmission. Four injections are required for full protection.

What is the outlook for malaria patients?

Malaria can result in major health issues, including death and lasting organ damage if it is not adequately treated. If you suspect you have malaria or have recently traveled to a region where it is prevalent, it is critical to seek treatment as soon as possible. Early treatment has a substantially higher rate of success.

Malaria can be treated and the infection removed from your body with the proper treatment and dosage. If an infected mosquito bites you after you've already had malaria, you could get it once more.