QUESTION Can malaria penetrate the brain? ANSWER Approximately 1% of people with malaria will develop a severe form, and in these cases the brain can be affected. When the brain is affected, the condition is called cerebral malaria. Functional changes to the blood-brain barrier occur in cerebral malaria, possibly as a result of the binding of parasitized red blood cells to … [Read more...]
How Long for Blood Count to Return to Normal
QUESTION I'm hoping to get some clarity on the following, as I've had a few rather large disparities in the information I've been given. My mother (66) recently had a very serious bout of Malaria and was hospitalised in Johannesburg for just over a week. (Both my Mom and Dad live in Tete, Mozambique) At one stage, she almost needed a blood transfusion as her parasite count was above 10% (12,5% to … [Read more...]
Is it Malaria Relapse?
QUESTION WHILE IN VIETNAM, I HAD VIVAX AND FACIPRIUM MALARIA. THE OLDER I GET I COME DOWN WITH THE CHILLS, FEVER AND PROFUSE SWEATING. BLOOD TEST NEVER DOES SHOW ANY MALARIA BUT DOES SHOW THE VIVAX ANTIBODIES. DOES THIS MEAN I STILL HAVE MALARIA OR HOW LONG DO THE ANTIBODIES REMAIN IN MY BODY AND WHY NO MALARIA CELLS? ANSWER Antibodies to malaria can persist in the body for years after … [Read more...]
Can the PCR blood test identify hypnozoites?
QUESTION I have never been diagnosed with malaria but returned from Turkey in 2007 (P. Vivax endemic area; Diarbykar & Mardin areas). My symptoms were consistent with malaria and I have now had 5 relapses since then, averaging one occurrence per year. I now have impaired kidney functioning and I am uncertain if this could be because of undiagnosed malaria? Would the PCR blood test at … [Read more...]
What Cell count defines malaria?
QUESTION What Cell count defines malaria?? ANSWER If you are referring to the cell count for diagnosis, then really the answer is that if ANY malaria parasites are observed in a blood film, then the slide should be considered positive for malaria. Of course, some people can have low levels of parasite in their blood, which are not easily detected under a microscope, using a blood slide. … [Read more...]
Multiple Malaria Infections Each Year
QUESTION My name is Olumide and I live in Nigeria. I have had malaria too frequently and it's giving me a lot of concern. I had one last August 2012 and am having another one this October as I am speaking with you. If I should count it, I'll be having nothing less than 6 occurrences in a year. It's always an headache induced malaria whereby after using the ACT combination recommended by WHO, … [Read more...]
Symptoms of Malaria but Tests Negative
QUESTION My sister has been suffering from fever from past 22 days temperature varying from 102-106 with chills shivering, headache, body pain,nausea and muscle ache but tested negative for malaria. She also tested negative for dengue, swine flu, hiv, and many others. So out of frustration we gave her mefloc 250 and she seems to be responding. She is still having fever that is after 12 hrs of … [Read more...]
Abdominal Pain in Malaria
QUESTION What is the cause of abdominal pain in malaria? ANSWER Often, abdominal pain in malaria occurs in the early stages of malaria infection (first week or so) and can be caused by the rapid enlargement of the liver and spleen as they become inflamed. During malaria infection, and particularly that with Plasmodium falciparum, the most deadly and severe form of malaria, large numbers … [Read more...]
Bio-larvicides
QUESTION Why is there no mention here of all the work being done on biolarvicides - the low cost solution for malaria control? ANSWER Actually, we had a question a while ago about the ECOWAS program in West Africa, which centers around the use of biolarvicides. A link to that question, and the answer, is provided here: http://malaria.com/questions/ecowas-malaria. The most common form … [Read more...]
Female Mosquitos and Malaria
QUESTION How come only the female mosquitoes can pass malaria? ANSWER Malaria is transmitted among humans by female mosquitoes of the genus Anopheles. Female mosquitoes need to bite people to get blood, in order to carry out egg production. These blood meals are the link between the human and the mosquito hosts in the parasite life cycle. Only female mosquitoes feed on blood, thus males … [Read more...]