QUESTION: Where does the name MALARIA come from? ANSWER: It comes from Medieval Italian, "mala aria," meaning "bad air", reflecting the early belief that bad-smelling air caused the disease. Indeed, bad-smelling air was also associated with swamps and marshes, which are perfect habitats for the breeding of malarial mosquitoes, so the people who came up with the association were actually … [Read more...]
Malaria Blood Work
QUESTION: What means smear for malaria - value 1? ANSWER: In most cases, I would suggest this means a positive result, though the exact meaning of that depends to some extent to the type of blood test it was. You mention a smear; to me, that implies that the test used traditional microscopy to look for red blood cells infected with malaria parasites. In this case, a result of 1 would … [Read more...]
Malaria in Saipan
QUESTION: Should I worry about Malaria while in Saipan for 1-2 months? I leave soon and would like to know if I should be vaccinated. ANSWER: The first thing I should say, which is crucially important, is that THERE IS NO VACCINE FOR MALARIA! There are, however, many other ways of effectively ensuring that you do not get infected when travelling to or living in malaria transmission … [Read more...]
Vomiting During Malaria
QUESTION: How can I reduce vomiting during malaria? ANSWER: The most important thing to do when suffering from malaria is to get diagnosed promptly by a doctor or clinic and then receive appropriate treatment. This is the quickest way to reduce symptoms of the disease, such as vomiting, as well as prevent progression of the disease. Once treatment has begun to be administered, your doctor … [Read more...]
Malaria Fever
QUESTION: How many days will the fever last? ANSWER: There is no set amount of time for the duration of a malaria fever, and in fact it will depends on several factors, namely the type of malaria the patient has, their level of acquired immunity, whether they were taking preventative medicine for malaria (prophylaxis) at the time of infection and how quickly they receive appropriate … [Read more...]
High Risk Areas for Malaria
QUESTION: Where are the high risk areas of malaria? ANSWER: Malaria is found in many tropical and sub-tropical parts of the world, although a few areas, through concerted control and prevention efforts, have eliminated the disease locally. Examples of this are the USA, most of the Mediterranean and parts of Central America. The highest burden of the disease is in Africa, although many … [Read more...]
Illness from Uganda trip
QUESTION: I just came back from a visit to Uganda Africa. I was unable to take Malarone as I had bad side effects. Vomiting. I was only exposed once when we walked into a swampy rain forest. This of-course was the only day I did not have repellent. We were taking the kids on a nature walk and the German volunteer got a little lost. I ran as fast as could out of the area. Started to feel tired … [Read more...]
Malaria Survey in Mumbai, India
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...]