Malaria or Not?

QUESTION

I went to Luanda, Angola and Port Hartcourt, Nigeria, Onne, Nigeria and Warri, Nigeria a few times. I suffer with voice problems, muscle control on my right side and some joint pains that have not been explained by my doctors.

I have been to doctors in Houston, Tx., New Orleans, La., New Iberia, La. and Franklin, La. and they all say the same thing. They don’t know what’s wrong with me. It maybe malaria that has laid dormant for nearly three years. I need to find out who can diagnose this for me and get me some help. My symptoms go back to 2009 with the balance being the first problem I noticed. The loss of my voice came later. I took off work for 5 months. Help me find someone close that might be able to help.

ANSWER

Although joint pains are associated sometimes with malaria infection, the most common symptoms are high fevers and chills—it would be unusual to suffer problems of with balance, the voice or muscle spasms.

A blood test is the only way to test for malaria for sure—this may be possible at a local travel clinic or any hospital which has a tropical medicine specialist.

I am not sure of any such exact clinics/hospitals in your area. However, I believe the CDC website has a list of local resources for tropical medicine. Otherwise, the CDC itself is located in Atlanta, GA, and they are certainly able to perform malaria testing, as well as give you advice as to whether you might be suffering from some other disease acquired internationally.