QUESTION: How does the malaria antigen test work? After how many days presence of malaria can antigens be detected in the blood ? Is it posible to detect antigens on the first day of fever ? ANSWER: The malaria antigen test works by detecting antigens in the blood which are released by the parasite. The antigens are usually LDH (lactate dehydrogenase) or HRP2 (Histidine-rich protein 2). … [Read more...]
Mobile App for Diagnosing Malaria
Focusing on the millions of people at risk from malaria in sub-Saharan Africa and other parts of the world, Lifelens is a project that has created a smartphone app to diagnose the insidious, mosquito-borne disease. The most prevalent diagnostic tool is the rapid diagnostic test RDT, which is known to be associated with a 60 percent incidence rate of false positive results. That, in turn, results … [Read more...]
Do I have malaria?
QUESTION: Hi, I went to Ivory Coast August/2003 back March/2004, took some pills to help prevent Malaria on my trip but ran out and did not get more. While I was there I got many mosquito bites. Around October/03 became very sick, got tested for malaria at the hospital in Quebec but negative. Now May/2011 still have all the same symptoms, flu like symptoms, feeling cold most of the time, … [Read more...]
Treatment for Malaria
QUESTION: How do you treat malaria? ANSWER: Malaria can be treated with a number of different types of medication; which one to use depends on the type of malaria you have, as well as whether resistant strains are known to occur in your area. Below I have copied the response I wrote to a similar question on malaria treatment, posted on the 2nd of May, 2011: In most cases of … [Read more...]
Started Late on Anti-malaria Medication
QUESTION: I'm in a malarious country and I had no idea about anti-malarials until I got here, so I started taking anti-malaria(doxycicline) two weeks late. It has been three weeks since I started taking the medicine. Do you think it would work or should I stop taking it? ANSWER: It depends a bit on where you are, and what types of malaria are in your region. Plasmodium falciparum usually … [Read more...]
Treatment for malaria in Africa
QUESTION: What is the treatment for malaria in Africa? ANSWER: The appropriate form of treatment for malaria, regardless of where you are, depends on the type of malaria you have. This can be determined through diagnosis; each of the main malaria parasites that ordinarily infect humans (P. falciparum, P. vivax, P. malariae and P. ovale) looks slightly different under the microscope, … [Read more...]
Are these malaria symptoms?
QUESTION: My daughter (10yrs) had high fever with chills till 4 days back but now she has low or no fever but feels cold at intervals & for that duration she is feeling giddy & vomittish. A little cough is also their . During this duration she is very uncomfortable & feels she has very high fever. Does all this reflect as malaria symptoms or it is some other problem. Please respond … [Read more...]
Malaria Self-Diagnosis
QUESTION: I live in Nigeria and was wondering if there are ways to find out if I malaria without going to the doctor or a hospital? ANSWER: The current "gold-standard" for malaria diagnosis, at least of active infections, is through microscropy, where a trained technician looks at a droplet of your blood on a slide, and sees if any of your red blood cells are infected with the malaria … [Read more...]