QUESTION what are effects of malaria? ANSWER If a person becomes infected with malaria, they may start to experience the symptoms of the disease. These include high fever, aches, chills, nausea, headache, and sometimes more severe manifestations, such as severe anemia, impaired consciousness and even coma or death. These latter severe effects are more commonly associated with Plasmodium … [Read more...]
Recurrence of Malaria
QUESTION If a person treated for malaria after being infected from a malaria endemic country of West Africa and cured then he travel back to his country which does not known for malaria endemic region of the world. Question is: Is there any chance of re-occurrence even he is not being exposed to malaria spreading mosquito for some time may be year? Is it true Malaria parasites stays in liver … [Read more...]
P. knowlesi versus P. falciparum: Treatment and Prevention
QUESTION I would like to know about the P. knowlesi - treatment compared to P. falciparum? preventive medicine? ANSWER At this point in time, P. knowlesi is completely susceptible to chloroquine, and so can be treated successfully using this drug. P. falciparum, on the other hand, is known to have widespread resistance to chloroquine, and so the World Health Organization recommends that … [Read more...]
Vivax or Falciparum Malaria?
QUESTION: I live in Pucallpa, Peru. I recently went on a trip to a remote jungle location in amazon jungle of Peru, and now I have malaria, but I’m not sure if it’s Vivax or falciparum. How could I know the difference? It seems like vivax is more common here in the jungle region of Peru, or am I wrong? Also, if it is Vivax, is Chloroquine with primaquine the best thing to take? I heard vivax is … [Read more...]
Malareich and Pregnancy
QUESTION Hi , am 31 weeks pregnant and had to take Malareich as my Anti malaria drug. I did not take the drug until I felt I had malaria, because I had body pains and headaches. Please advise if I will be ok after taking the malareich. ANSWER Malareich is a combination drug comprising of sulfadoxine and pyrimethamine, which is one of the medications recommended for treatment of malaria in … [Read more...]
malaria background
QUESTION where did malaria come from? ANSWER Malaria is a disease caused by a single-celled parasite called Plasmodium. There are many species of Plasmodium, which infect many other animals as well as humans. The types of malaria which infect humans probably evolved from similar Plasmodium species in monkeys and apes; for example, P. vivax is closely related to several species of malaria … [Read more...]
Malaria Symptoms
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 the … [Read more...]
Antimalarial Drugs During pPregnancy
QUESTION What is the safest antimalarial drug to be used by a pregnant woman in her second trimester? ANSWER With regards to treating malaria, intravenous artesunate (or quinine, if artesunate is not available) should be used for the treatment of severe/complicated Plasmodium falciparum malaria. Signs of severe and/or complicated malaria include impaired consciousness, organ failure, … [Read more...]
Duration of Malaria Symptoms
QUESTION If untreated how long will a person suffer symptoms caused by Malaria? ANSWER The answer to that depends a lot on what type of malaria they have as well as their own immune status, and particularly if they have been infected with malaria before. So, for example, P. falciparum is the most severe and deadly kind of malaria, and without treatment, many people who do not have … [Read more...]
New Anti-Malarial Drug Target
An international team of scientists have identified the first reported inhibitors of a key enzyme involved in survival of the parasite responsible for malaria. Their findings, which may provide the basis for anti-malarial drug development, are currently published in the online version of the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry. Tropical malaria is responsible for more than 1.2 million deaths … [Read more...]