QUESTION What are the symptoms of malaria? ANSWER Symptoms of malaria include fever and flu-like illness, including shaking chills, headache, muscle aches, and tiredness. Nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea may also occur. Malaria may cause anemia and jaundice (yellow coloring of the skin and eyes) because of the loss of red blood cells. Symptoms usually appear between 10 and 15 days after … [Read more...]
Cyclical Fever and Malaria Symptoms
QUESTION My dad is not well from last one month. In the evening time he feels headache, neck pain and 102 Temp. Can you please tell me can it be Malaria. ANSWER Those symptoms can be characteristic of malaria—cyclical fever is a key symptom, though usually the cycles are every other day or even every third day (depending on the type of malaria). However, in some cases the cycles … [Read more...]
Malaria After Doxycycline?
QUESTION I recently spent a month in Asia. I took doxycycline tablets for malaria. I took them for the month I was away and when I returned. I took the full course and had been fine. Within two days of completing the course I became ill. This has be going on for about a month now with severe headaches, nausea, dizziness, very tired all the time and feeling like I'm going to faint. I have been … [Read more...]
Recurring Malaria
QUESTION I had malaria twice when I was 4 and 8 years old. I am 50 years old now but I have severe chills at least once or twice a month, muscle aches, fatigue severe head aches for the past 10-15 years with no apparent cause and my I take head ache medication for migraine (maxalt and excedrim) and my chills and fatigue is getting more frequent. I had no other history of any diseases. Is this … [Read more...]
Dangerous
QUESTION Why malaria so dangerous? ANSWER Malaria can be dangerous for a number of different reasons, some of which relate to each other. First of all, there are five different types of malaria that infect humans, and each varies in terms of its severity and potential for severe consequences. Even within these types, the severity of the disease caused (termed "virulence" by scientists and … [Read more...]
Frequent Urination and Malaria
QUESTION Can malaria result in frequent urination, especially during night? ANSWER Malaria can affect the kidneys, especially malaria caused by P. falciparum. This could result in changes to urination patterns. However, at this stage in the infection, the patient would also be experiencing severe fever, chills and other symptoms associated with malaria. The fever would also likely be … [Read more...]
Can malaria be dormant for years?
QUESTION My child (age 5 at time) was bitten by something in Mexico that looked like a mosquito bite. About 7 days later we were home in the US and she developed high fever, headache, chills,sweating at night, extreme fatigue,abdominal pain, and swollen lymph nodes in neck. She had a fever for 40 days! I took her to the pediatrician almost every other day and had immediately informed them of … [Read more...]
Malaria Recovery Time
QUESTION How long does it take to recover from malaria? ANSWER A number of different factors affect recovery time from malaria. These include the type of malaria, how quickly treatment is administered and the immune status of the patient. For example, children and pregnant women tend to get much more severe cases of malaria, due to their reduced natural immunity. The type of malaria … [Read more...]
Malaria in the Brain
QUESTION I would like to know how dangerous is malaria in the brain? ANSWER Only a certain kind of malaria, Plasmodium falciparum, is usually associated with causing problems in the brain. The P. falciparum parasite infects red blood cells and changes their surface structure, causing them to become "sticky". These sticky red blood cells become lodged in the small blood vessels that flow … [Read more...]
Malaria Muscle Aches
QUESTION I am someone who has traveled to malaria-infected areas in the past and will do so again in the future. I also happen to have a form of musculr dystrophy (myotonic dystrophy type II) that, among other things, causes me to experience frequent episodes of muscular pain. Thus, the mere presence of muscle pain, in my particular case, can tell little about whether I might have malaria. … [Read more...]