QUESTION How do beliefs and attitude affect the spread, treatment and prevention of malaria? ANSWER Accurate information and knowledge about how malaria is transmitted, diagnosed and treated is crucial to controlling the disease, for the general public living in malarial areas, travelers to these areas and health professionals. For example, many travelers are unaware that their … [Read more...]
Mosquito Types
QUESTION How many types of mosquito are there? ANSWER There are over 3,500 species of mosquito! However, most of these do not transmit any diseases to humans. Mosquitoes are usually divided into two sub-families, the Anophelinae and the Culicinae. The latter group consists of about 40 genera, including Culex and Aedes, which contain some species that transmit diseases to humans (such as … [Read more...]
Malaria Drugs Side Effects
QUESTION I was affected by malaria 5 months back. I am feeling tiered and weakness and heart trembling symptoms. Any suggestions to overcome weakness? ANSWER Your fatigue is probably not caused by the treatment—one of the potential residual effects of malaria infection is iron deficiency, which can lead to anaemia, and this can cause tiredness. Eating iron-rich foods or asking … [Read more...]
Symtoms of Malaria
QUESTION Please tell me the symptoms of malaria. ANSWER Symptoms of malaria include fever and flu-like illness, including shaking chills, headache, muscle aches, and tiredness. Due to the way in which the malaria parasite reproduces in the human body, fevers occurring in a cyclical fashion (i.e. high fever one day, no fever the next day, then recurrence of fever on the third or fourth … [Read more...]
Prevention of Malaria
QUESTION What is the prevention of malaria? ANSWER Malaria prevention consists of a combination of mosquito avoidance measures and chemoprophylaxis. Although very efficacious, none of the recommended interventions are 100% effective. Mosquito Avoidance Measures Because of the nocturnal feeding habits of Anopheles mosquitoes, malaria transmission occurs primarily between dusk and … [Read more...]
Malaria while in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia?
QUESTION My husband and I recently adopted our second child from Ethiopia about 3 months ago. We did NOT take Malaria medication because we only stayed in Addis Ababa and did not travel outside the city—or very far from out hotel for that matter. I've recently started very odd symptoms—aches, chills but no fever, general feeling of malaise, runs, dry cough, hot flashes followed by … [Read more...]
How Long Does it Take to Feel Ill from Malaria?
QUESTION How soon does a person usually to feel ill after malaria infection? ANSWER After being bitten by an infected mosquito, there is an "incubation period" before the person begins to suffer from symptoms of malaria. This time corresponds to the period the malaria parasite spends in the liver; it is once it enters the blood and begins to destroy red blood cells that initiate the onset … [Read more...]
How Long for Malaria Medication to Start Working?
QUESTION After I treat my body with the malaria pill how long will it be to start working in my body? ANSWER The malaria medication will start working almost immediately after you take it. The way in which malaria pills work differ depending on the type of drug you are taking, but most act on the parasites which infect red blood cells in your body. As soon as the parasite's life cycle in … [Read more...]
Can I Catch Malaria from Someone?
QUESTION My fiancee contracted malaria a few years ago. It was diagnosed as recurring. Could I contract malaria from the infected person, I have had similar symptoms which last a day or two, recurring with regular two week intervals, of which the most concerning are malaise, fever, stiff neck, headaches and severe pains over abdomen spreading into my mid back. What should I … [Read more...]
Treatment of Chronic Vivax Malaria
QUESTION What is the treatment of chronic Vivax malaria? ANSWER Blood stage infection with Plasmodium vivax can usually be treated successfully with chloroquine, though resistance is spreading in some areas (notably the Pacific Islands, Papua New Guinea, parts of south-east Asia and especially Indonesia, and Peru). P. vivax is also sensitive to artemisinin-based combination therapies … [Read more...]