What is Malaria?

Malaria is an infectious disease a person contracts when they are bitten by a mosquito that carries the parasites. With the bite these parasites are then transferred into the recipient’s bloodstream, and this is how the infection begins. Untreated malaria may cause extremely high fevers that may result in seizures or brain damage. Organ failure or losing the ability to breathe without assistance is also possible with malaria if the infected person does not receive treatment. 

Malaria infections are rare in North America in the Northern Hemisphere but are much more common in the Southern one, and in Africa and South Asia most prominently. Prevention is the best approach to avoiding malaria, and for most people this involves being vaccinated against malaria before travel to these regions.

What Causes Malaria?

When a mosquito bites an animal or human that is infected with malaria they will then get it themselves. They soon become an active carrier, and anyone bitten by them afterwards is likely to have the malaria parasites passed on in the same way. Babies may be born with malaria if the mother becomes infected in the later term of her pregnancy. Contracting malaria from blood transfusions is also possible, and may also be attributable to the use of hypodermic needles or organ donations, although this is very rare. 

Young children, seniors, and pregnant women are the groups who are most at risk when infected with malaria, and in some cases they may be more at risk of becoming infected because of their age or pregnancy based on their where they live or the daily activities they participate in.

Malaria Symptoms

Fever, chills, nausea, muscle aches, headache, fatigue, chest pain, breathing difficulties, diarrhea, and vomiting are the most common malaria symptoms. Worsening malaria that will occur if the person does not receive treatment can result in them developing anemia (severe body weakness) or jaundice (yellowing of the skin).

Malaria symptoms usually present 10 days to 1 month after the initial infection. In some rarer instances it can be possible for an infected individual to still be unaware of their malaria infection for up to a year after they were bitten by the mosquito. Malaria also has the potential to reappear, as the parasites can be inactive in the person’s liver and then reenter the bloodstream. This can happen even years later.

Malaria Treatment

The standard approach to malaria treatment is to have infected individuals start on a course of treatment with antimalarial medications like Qualaquin or Lariam. These medications are effective for parasite elimination, but it is important to start on them as soon as possible after a malaria diagnosis. These malaria-causing parasites can develop resistance to the drugs and then may not be so easily eliminated by them. 

A doctor may advise beginning on artemisinin combination therapy if they have plasmodium falciparum malaria. A blood test is standard means of determining which type of malaria parasite the person has contracted, and then deciding on which antimalarial drug will work most reliably for them.