Symptoms of Malaria

Malaria is a disease that occurs when an infected anopheles mosquito bites a person and injects malaria parasites into the blood. Four species of malaria parasites can infect humans Plasmodium falciparum, P. vivax, p. ovale and p. malariae, plasmodium falciparum infection can result in rapid progression to life-threatening illness. about 1 to 2% of patients infected with falciparum malaria die. Symptoms of malaria are flu-like and may include fever, chills, sweats, muscle aches, headache and sometimes vomiting and diarrhoea. Patients with falciparum malaria may develop renal failure, convulsions and coma. infection with P. vivax and P. ovale may remain dormant in the liver for many months, causing a reappearance of symptoms months or even years later. The period between a mosquito bites and the onset of symptoms of malaria is usually 7 to 21 days but this interval may be longer when the traveller has taken incomplete or inadequate malaria prevention measures. if a traveller develops fever during or after travel to malarious areas, medical help must be sought immediately to exclude malaria as a cause. A blood sample should be checked for malaria parasites.