QUESTION: I want the past year's malaria survey in Mumbai and other states. ANSWER: The Lancet, one of the world's leading medical journals, recently published an article summarising the mortality of malaria in India. The citation for the article is as follows: Dhingra, Jha, Sharma, Cohen, Jotkar, Rodriguez, Bassani, Suraweera, Laxminarayan and Peto (2010), 'Adult and child mortality … [Read more...]
Person to Person Malaria Transmission
QUESTION: If someone had malaria but they don't have it any more can they give it to someone else? ANSWER: Regardless of whether a person is still infected with malaria or not, malaria can almost never be transmitted directly from one person to another. Normally, malaria is only transmitted via infected mosquitoes; so, a mosquito has to bite an infected person, and then bite another … [Read more...]
Malaria and Loss of Red Blood Cells
QUESTION: What is the percentage of red blood cell that is lost at the onset of malaria symptoms? ANSWER: This depends entirely on the severity of the malaria infection, and also the type of malaria. Malaria parasites, called Plasmodium, invade red blood cells and use them for rapid, asexual reproduction. After a certain number of multiplications, the parasites burst out from the red … [Read more...]
Malaria Cases in West Bengal
QUESTION: What is the number of Malaria patients in West Bengal? ANSWER: West Bengal is one of the states considered highly endemic for malaria in India. In 1998, cases in West Bengal comprised approximately 6% of the total number of cases of all malaria in India (corresponding to 129,000 of the total 2.15 million cases reported that year), and approximately 3% of the cases of Plasmodium … [Read more...]
White Blood Cells and Malaria
QUESTION Does malaria cause loss of white blood cells / antibodies? ANSWER The parasites that cause malaria reproduce in the human host by infecting red blood cells, then multiplying asexually and bursting out into the bloodstream, ready to infect more red blood cells. As such, malaria parasites do not destroy white blood cells. However, patients with malaria may display reduced white … [Read more...]
Can malaria parasites pass to children through breast milk?
QUESTION: Can breast milk transfer malaria parasites from a mother to the child? ANSWER: No. Malaria parasites cannot be transferred via breast milk. However, there is evidence that some antimalarial drugs can pass through breast milk, with unknown effects on the infant; as such, it is not recommended that breast feeding mothers take certain antimalarial drugs. Studies in rats have … [Read more...]
How soon can malaria occur a second time?
QUESTION: My son is studying in Tanzania and was diagnosed June 28, 2011 with malaria while taking Malarone. He took Duo-Cotecxin as prescribed for treatment and was feeling much better. He was given a "clear" blood test result. He started taking Malarone July 16, 2011 and on June 18, 2011 was ill again and diagnosed with malaria a second time in less than 6 weeks. Can malaria occur in … [Read more...]
Primaquine for Malaria Treatment
QUESTION: In India what is the duration of primaquine therapy in confirmed Malaria infection? ANSWER: Primaquine is usually used to kill the hypnozoite stages of Plasmodium vivax or P. ovale. This life stage of the malaria parasite can reside, dormant in the liver's hepatocyte cells, even after the patient has completed the normal course of treatment for the infection; at this stage, the … [Read more...]
Malaria cure?
QUESTION: How do you cure malaria? ANSWER: There are a number of different types of treatment for malaria, depending on the kind you have and its severity. Most cases of malaria can be treated with orally administered medication; it is only in the most severe cases, for example if the patient is already in a coma or has had multiple convulsions, that intravenous medication is given. … [Read more...]
What are the treatment options for malaria?
QUESTION: What is the treatment for Malaria? ANSWER: There are a number of different types of treatment for malaria, depending on the kind you have and its severity. Most cases of malaria can be treated with orally administered medication; it is only in the most severe cases, for example if the patient is already in a coma or has had multiple convulsions, that intravenous medication is … [Read more...]