Malaria Causes, Symptoms and Diagnosis

Malaria is a fatal disease that accounts for approximately 1.5 to 2.7 million deaths resulting from 300 to 500 million cases of infection every year. In certain regions, up to forty percent of toddlers may die due to acute malaria.Malaria is an parasitic infection caused by Plasmodium in the blood stream.

The malarial parasite is transferred through the bite of an infected mosquito. It could be mild or severe, complicated or uncomplicated. The infection has symptoms that make it noticable. A typical attack has three phases and shows a certain periodicity.

1. Cold Phase - There is a feeling of being cold, irrespective of actual body temperature. The person needs a blanket or other cover and shivers uncontrollably. The skin may feel cold with a severe headache.

2. Hot Phase - There is a high fever and the patient feels hot and may throw off all the blankets. It is particularly dangerous in children as it could lead to contractions.

3. Sweating Phase - There is profuse sweating after fever, the bed may even be soaked. You feel weak and feel to take rest or sleep.

Common Symptoms of Malaria are fever, chills, nausea, headaches, sweats, fatigue and vomiting. But the severity of the signs depends on your body's immunity and your overall health. On extreme occasions, malaria can cause problems with the brain and spinal cord i.e., Cerebral Malaria symptoms result in seizures, or even cause loss of consciousness. Other common symptoms of malaria are dry cough, muscle pain and enlarged spleen. Symptoms of Malaria are cyclic and stay for different lengths of time. This is especially true during the initial stages of the disease.

Cyclical attacks - The exact period between attacks differs for the different species that causes malaria. Thus the attacks may occur at anytime between 48 hours to 72 hours.

The appearance of malaria signs depends on the type of parasite. You will show the initial symptoms of malaria in 9 to 14 days if you are infected by Plasmodium falciparum; 12 to 18 days for Plasmodium vivax or Plasmodium ovale; 18 to 40 days for Plasmodium malariae. Among all the malarial infections, the infection caused by P. falciparum is the most fatal.

Diagnosis of Malaria:

Note that humans who have been exposed to malarial paraistes or infections for a long time and are presently partially immune may not show all the symptoms of the disease. But a non immune person will succumb very easily. The diagnosis of malaria is based on a combination of assessing risks, observing symptoms and medical tests.

Medical tests involve the demonstration of the parasite in a film of blood. It could be a thin film in case of identifying the particular type of parasite causing the disease or a thick film if you need more reliability in finding the parasite. Though the medicinal tests are easy to carry out, they may not be available in all locations, So presumptive malaria treatment, which is treatment based on risk assessment is the most practical approach.