QUESTION How was malaria discovered? ANSWER Malaria has long been known to human populations from across the world. In fact, the first mention of the symptoms of malaria comes from an ancient Chinese manuscript from 2700 BCE! However, the actual cause and mechanism of transmission of the disease was only discovered in the 19th century. It was Charles Louis Alphonse Laveran, a French … [Read more...]
Frequent Fever
QUESTION I live in Mumbai,India. My mother's age is 56. She is getting fever from last 1 month and also lost her appetite. We have tested for malaria but it is negative. Tried 4-5 doctors but no one is able to detect the exact cause. She feels better for 3-4 days after medication but then again gets a fever. She feels like vomiting while trying to eat something. Please help. ANSWER If the … [Read more...]
Slight Malaria
QUESTION Does "slight malaria" mean you have malaria? ANSWER You have malaria if you are infected with the Plasmodium parasites that cause malaria. However, having a few of the parasites does not mean you experience symptoms of the disease. Some forms of malaria, like P. malariae, can persist in a patient without causing any symptoms. However, in some cases, particularly P. falciparum … [Read more...]
Can of Worms: Travel Parasites to Know About
Malaria isn’t the only parasite you need to think about when you travel In my last post, I shared some of the misguided myths about malaria that I had heard while hanging out with the tourists on Zanzibar. Then, in the in-flight magazine on the internal flight between Dar and Mwanza (my flight was over an hour late…hence how the airline, Precision Air, earned its local nickname: “Imprecision … [Read more...]