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...]
How do you get malaria?
QUESTION: How do you get malaria? ANSWER: Malaria is caused by parasites called Plasmodium, of which different species cause different types of malaria. A person gets malaria when they are bitten by certain female mosquitoes (of the species Anopheles) that carry Plasmodium parasites in their saliva. The mosquitoes themselves pick up the parasite by feeding on the blood of people already … [Read more...]
What is malaria?
QUESTION: What is malaria? ANSWER: Malaria is a disease caused by parasites of the genus Plasmodium. Transmitted by mosquitoes, there are several different kinds of malaria distributed throughout the tropical and sub-tropical regions of the world, causing somewhere between 300-500 million cases of disease each year, and as many as 1 million deaths. In fact, malaria is one of the biggest … [Read more...]
What is malaria, and how can it be cured?
QUESTION: What is malaria? How could we cure it? ANSWER: Malaria is a disease caused by parasites of the genus Plasmodium. Transmitted by mosquitoes, there are several different kinds of malaria distributed throughout the tropical and sub-tropical regions of the world, causing somewhere between 300-500 million cases of disease each year, and as many as 1 million deaths. In fact, malaria … [Read more...]
Malaria symptoms
QUESTION: When a person is ill he or she will have what symptoms? ANSWER: Malaria can have many different symptoms, but the initial signs are similar to a flu-like illness, with high fever, chills, headache and muscle soreness or aches. A characteristic sign of malaria is cyclical fever, with peaks of severity every two or three days. Additionally, some people will experience nausea, … [Read more...]
Does malaria affect population vigour?
QUESTION: How is malaria affecting population vigour at present? ANSWER: If I understand your question correctly, you are asking if malaria affects the well-being of populations. In answer, malaria is an extremely debilitating disease in many populations around the world, and is known to severely affect population vigour. People infected with malaria are likely to miss work or school, … [Read more...]
What age can be affected by malaria?
QUESTION: A child of what age can be affected from cerebral malaria or malaria? ANSWER: People of all ages can be affected by malaria, which is what makes it such a public health burden in so many places. Severe symptoms of the disease, such as the manifestation of cerebral malaria that you mention, can also be seen in children of all ages as well as adults. However, generally, younger … [Read more...]
Where does malaria appear?
QUESTION: Where does malaria first appears on the body? ANSWER: That's a very interesting question! You could say that malaria first appears in the blood, since that is how the parasite enters the human body—it passes into our bloodstream when an infected mosquito penetrates the skin to feed on blood. The life cycle below, courtesy of CDC, explains more about the next stages of … [Read more...]
Drinking Milk While Infected with Malaria
QUESTION: Can a malaria-infected person drink milk? ANSWER: As far as I know, there isn't a problem with drinking milk while suffering from malaria. In fact, it is generally a good idea to keep as hydrated as possible while feverish (although water or diluted juice would probably be better for hydration). There is also some evidence that drinking milk can settle the stomach while taking … [Read more...]
What are the three stages of a malaria attack?
QUESTION: What are the three stages of a typical malaria attack? ANSWER: I'm not entirely clear as to what you're asking with this question; do you mean the stages of infection within the human host, or the successive changes in the symptoms during the fever cycles that characterise a malarial episode? If you mean the latter, then the three typical stages of symptoms during a malaria … [Read more...]