Malaria Causes, Signs 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 40% of toddlers may die of 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 signs that make it identifiable. A typical malarial infection consists of three stages with 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 because it could lead to contractions.

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

Common Malaria Symptoms 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 and lead to seizures, or even cause loss of consciousness. Other common symptoms of malaria are dry cough, muscle pain and enlarged spleen. Malaria Symptoms 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 plasmodium species. You will get the early 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 now partially immune may not exhibit all the symptoms of malaria. But a non immune person will succumb very quickly. The diagnosis of malaria is based on a combination of risk assessment, observing symptoms and medical tests.

Laboratory examinations 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, Therefore presumptive treatment, which is treatment based on risk assessment is the most practical approach.