QUESTION What are the long term and short term effects of malaria in brief please? ANSWER The symptoms of malaria as an acute infection vary somewhat depending on the type of malaria, but usual signs include high fever (often in a cyclical pattern, with fever one day, then no fever for one or two days, then a recurrence of fever), chills, body aches and nausea. For Plasmodium … [Read more...]
What Causes Malaria
QUESTION What are the causes of malaria? ANSWER Malaria is caused by infection with certain single-celled parasites of the genus Plasmodium. Specifically, there are five species which infect humans: P. falciparum (the most severe and dangerous form of malaria), P. vivax, P. ovale, P. malariae and P. knowlesi. The symptoms of the disease occur when the parasite enters the blood stream … [Read more...]
Malaria Effects on the Body
QUESTION What are the effects of malaria on the body? ANSWER Malaria has a number of effects on the body. The parasite passes from the blood (where it enters via the bite of an infected mosquito) into the liver, where it reproduces and changes form. After a period of 1-4 weeks (usually - it can be longer) in the liver, the malaria parasite re-enters the blood and begins to infect red … [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...]
Malaria Symptoms
QUESTION How does the virus cause the symptoms? ANSWER Malaria is actually not caused by a virus—it is caused by a microscopic single-celled parasite called Plasmodium. Several different species cause malaria in humans, the most common of which are P. vivax and P. falciparum. To describe the process in a very oversimplified way, the malaria parasites cause disease by infecting … [Read more...]
Celebral Malaria and Blindness
QUESTION I live in Nigeria. Good friend of mine complained of headaches in Dec 2011. Did an MRI went to Germany had a general check up. Back in Nigeria in January, headaches increase, she gets blind in one eye, following day the other eye, now in Germany where they have induced her into a coma. They said that she got a brain Haemorrage from the malaria. Can malaria bring blindness. What are the … [Read more...]
What are the symptoms of malaria?
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...]
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...]
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...]
Why is Malaria Dangerous?
QUESTION How does Malaria become so dangerous? ANSWER Malaria in humans can be caused by a number of different parasites - the most dangerous, and the one which is responsible for over 90% of the worldwide deaths from malaria, is Plasmodium falciparum. The reason that P. falciparum is so dangerous is because it affects the behaviour of red blood cells. Red blood cells that are infected … [Read more...]