What is Malaria?
Malaria comes under a type of infectious disease that is mosquito-borne. These medical conditions affect humans and animals at large. People of any age can get this mosquito-borne infectious disease. Malaria starts with mild symptoms like tiredness, vomiting, fever, and headaches. It can also turn into serious health complications like jaundice, coma, seizure, and sometimes death.
The symptoms of the mosquito-borne infectious disease start to appear as soon as the mosquito which is carrying the infection bites an individual in 10 to 15 days. If the treatment of this condition does not cure a person totally or the treatment is done poorly then mosquito-borne infectious disease can reoccur next few months again.
Interestingly, if you went through Malaria before in your life then your next symptom of Malaria occurs at mild levels. Moreover, the partial resistance to Malarial infection gradually starts to disappear if you do not have exposure to mosquito-borne infectious diseases anymore. Additionally, a microorganism that has a single cell of the plasmodium group is responsible for Malaria to occur in a person. The spread of this parasite is done with the help of Anopheles mosquitoes exclusively.
Here are five parasites of the Plasmodium family that can cause Malarial infection:
- Plasmodium falciparum
- P. vivax
- Plasmodium ovale
- P. malariae
- Plasmodium knowlesi
The life cycle of the Malaria parasite
These Plasmodium parasites exclusively use Anopheles mosquitoes for their spread. Furthermore, these mosquitoes carry infectious bacteria in their saliva. Usually, this parasite comes from a person who is already having Malaria, and its passes to this species of mosquito when she sucks the blood from that person. So, the next person that mosquito will bite gets Malaria. Furthermore, the parasite travels from the mosquito’s saliva to a person’s blood through its needle blood suction.
Additionally, through the blood, they finally reach their target organ known as the liver. The liver is a major and vital organ that is responsible for various functions inside the body. So, the liver is where these harmful bacteria mature and multiply. They use red blood cells and destroys them to release their offspring cells known as merozoites, and continue with other RBC cell. The person with this infection passes Malaria to the next person if the carrier or the vector (mosquito) bites this patient. So, this is how the cycle of Plasmodium parasites continues in a cyclic stage.
Is Malaria fatal?
Malaria is quite a lethal bacterial infection that can be fatal to humans. An estimated 627,000 people in 2020 lost their lives due to Malaria. Also, the unique ability of Malarial parasites is the ability to get into and evade the destruction of the immune system present inside the human body. So, it reduced the body’s immunity strength to fight off this bacteria.
If you do not treat this condition well on time then either it will appear again or make your condition severe increasing your chances of death. Please seek professional help and treatment for the same. It is also said that nearly half of the population present on Earth is at huge risk of this deadly Malarial infection. Moreover, proper awareness and prevention can help you prevent Maria.
What kind of people has chances of Malaria?
This mosquito-borne infectious disease also consists of three stages. Also, the symptoms of Malaria start with mild symptoms like tiredness, vomiting, fever, and headaches. If you get treatment in the early stages of Malaria, it will help you suffer less also. Hence, seek medical help soon for Malaria because the sooner the better. Here are the stages of Malaria that patients face are as follows:
- Cold stage- At first, the person experiences a feeling of cold also with shivering for 15 to 60 minutes.
- Hot stage- In the next stage you experience an extreme hot degree of fever reaching 41 degrees Celcius. You also experience headaches, nausea, and vomiting. Also, this stage lasts for 2 to 6 hours.
- Sweating stage- In this last stage, you sweat a lot as your fever starts to drop rapidly from 2 to 4 hours.
These stages reoccur in cycles after every 48 to 72 hours depending upon which type of Plasmodium parasite you are carrying.
What are the signs and symptoms of Malaria?
When you are going through stages of Malaria you will also face many symptoms in periodic patterns. Moreover, the signs and symptoms of Malaria are as follows:

- Fever
- Muscle pain
- Joint pain
- Feeling of discomfort
- Headache
- Abdominal pain
- Diarrhea
- Chills
- Confusion
- Pallor
- Nausea Vomiting
- Night sweats
- Heavy sweating
- Fast heartbeat
Furthermore, the following are symptoms of Malaria in severe cases as follows:
- You are unable to feed yourself
- The consciousness of a person also starts to decline
- You are unable to walk
- More than two convulsions also occur
- Your blood pressure lowers
- The kidney also fails to function
- You might also experience shortness of breath
- There is circulatory shock
- Hemoglobin starts to present in urine
- Hemoglobin level also drops and becomes less than 50 g/L (5 g/dL)
- A person also goes through Pulmonary edema
- Blood glucose drops to less than 2.2 mmol/L (40 mg/dL)
- Bleeding problem occurs
- Lactate levels spike by more than 5 mmol/L
What are the causes of Malaria?
Malaria solely occurs due to parasites that belong to the Plasmodium genus. Although, there are many reasons why you got this infection from the Anopheles mosquito. Furthermore, not using proper Insecticidal Treated bed Nets and Indoor Residual Spray enough to keep mosquitoes away can lead to chances of Malaria.
Also, being near stagnant water sites or places where mosquitoes breed near home, work or school areas can cause you Malarial mosquito bite. When you are around a person who is suffering from Malaria or just recovered from it, your chances of Malaria might rise because the mosquito that will bite that person can bite you too.
Moreover, people living in irrigation, dam, and river sights have more chances of Malarial infection. Also, being careless when Malaria outbreaks are rising in your area can make you infected as well. Staying outdoors in dark places during nights when mosquitos possibly are high can also make you suffer from Malaria as well.
What are the treatment methods for Malaria?
First of all, your doctor will also run a few tests in order to determine your treatment method and drug prescriptions. Moreover, the factors that will determine your Malarial treatment are as follows:
- The concentration amount of parasites present in the blood
- Which type of Plasmodium parasite led you to Malaria
- If your infection is due to side effects of any drug or other reason
- If this condition is causing your severe troubles
On the basis of all these, your doctor will give you medicines. Your doctor may prescribe you anti-malarial medicines that include:
- Artemisinin-based combination therapies (ACTs)
- Primaquine phosphate
- Quinine sulfate with doxycycline
- Atovaquone-proguanil
Conclusion
Malaria comes under a type of infectious disease that is mosquito-borne. Also, it starts with mild symptoms like tiredness, vomiting, fever, and headaches. It can also turn into serious health complications like jaundice, coma, seizure, and sometimes death. There are five parasites of the Plasmodium family that can cause Malarial infection. If the treatment of this condition does not cure a person totally or the treatment is done poorly then mosquito-borne infectious disease can reoccur next few months again.
Malaria solely occurs due to parasites that belong to the Plasmodium genus. Although, there are many reasons why you got this infection from the Anopheles mosquito. Malaria is quite a lethal bacterial infection that can be fatal to humans. An estimated 627,000 people in 2020 lost their lives due to Malaria. Please seek professional help and treatment for the same. It is also said that nearly half of the population present on Earth is at huge risk of this deadly Malarial infection. Moreover, proper awareness and prevention can help you prevent Maria.
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