How Do You Prevent Malaria?
Malaria is an illness brought about by a parasite. People become infected through mosquito bites carrying the parasite. Malaria typically causes severe illness, including a high fever and chills that cause trembling. Malaria is still widespread in tropical and subtropical regions while being rare in temperate areas. Keep reading to learn more about the signs and symptoms of malaria.
What Causes Malaria?
The genus Plasmodium single-celled parasite is known to cause malaria. Most commonly, mosquito bites are the means of parasite transmission to people.
Cycle of Mosquito Transmission
- Uninfected mosquito: When a mosquito bites a person who has malaria, it contracts the disease.
- Parasite transmission: The next time this mosquito bites you, it can give you malaria parasites.
- In your liver: Once inside your body, the parasites move to your liver, where certain varieties can lay dormant for up to a year.
- Into the blood: Once they reach maturity, the parasites leave the liver and attack your red blood cells. People often start to exhibit signs of malaria at this time.
- Transmission to the next person: At this stage of the malaria cycle, if an uninfected mosquito bites you, it will contract your malaria parasites and pass them on to everyone else it bites.
Signs and Symptoms of Malaria
Following the infection, the signs of malaria often appear 10 days to 4 weeks later. Sometimes symptoms won’t appear for a few months. Some parasites that cause malaria can enter your body and remain latent for a very long time.
Malaria symptoms often include:
- Trembling chills that can vary in intensity from mild to severe
- Having a high body temperature
- Profuse sweating
- Headache
- Nausea
- Vomiting
- Stomach pain
- Diarrhoea
- Anaemia
- Muscle ache
- Convulsions
- Bloody stools
- Coma
Can Signs and Symptoms Alone be Used to Diagnose Malaria?
Malaria is usually diagnosed by your doctor. They will go through your medical history, along with any recent trips you may have taken to a tropical location. There will also be a physical examination.
Your doctor may be able to tell if you have an enlarged liver or spleen. They can also request additional blood tests if you exhibit malaria symptoms to confirm the diagnosis.
This testing will reveal:
- If you have malaria
- If your vital organs have been impacted by the sickness
- How severe your malaria is
- If the parasite that is the source of your infection is drug-resistant
- If the illness has resulted in anaemia
What are the Life-Threatening Complications of Malaria?
Numerous life-threatening consequences from malaria can occur. The following could happen:
- Cerebral malaria, or enlargement of the brain’s blood vessels
- Pulmonary Oedema, which is a buildup of fluid in the lungs that impairs breathing
- Organ failure involving the liver, spleen, or kidneys
- Anaemia caused by red blood cell degeneration
- Low blood sugar
What’s the Best Treatment for Malaria?
Malaria can be a potentially fatal condition, particularly if you have the parasite P. falciparum. Usually, the condition is treated in a hospital. Depending on the kind of parasite you have, your doctor will recommend the best course of treatment for malaria.
Due to parasite drug resistance, the prescribed medicine may occasionally fail to treat the illness. If this happens, your doctor may have to treat your illness with more than one medicine or a different medication entirely.
Additionally, some parasites that cause malaria, like P. vivax and P. ovale, have liver stages that allow them to remain in your body for a long time before reactivating and infecting you again.
If it is determined that you have one of these parasites, you will be given additional medication to stop a future relapse.
What is the Long-Term Prognosis for Malaria Patients?
The long-term prognosis for malaria patients who undergo treatment is often favourable. The outlook might not be as promising if malaria-related problems develop. Brain damage from cerebral malaria, which swells the brain’s blood arteries, is possible.
Individuals with drug-resistant parasites might have poor long-term prognoses. These patients’ malaria episodes might return. There could be further issues as a result.
Advice on Preventing Signs and Symptoms of Malaria
There isn’t a malaria vaccine on the market today. If you reside in or are travelling to a region where malaria is prevalent, consult your pharmacist or doctor. To avoid getting the sickness, you could be given antimalarials.
These prescription drugs, which should be taken before, during, and after your travel, are similar to the ones that are used to treat the disease.
If you reside in a region where malaria is prevalent, speak with your pharmacist or doctor about long-term prevention. Being bitten by Anopheles mosquitoes could be avoided by sleeping under a mosquito net. Utilising mosquito covers or DEET bug sprays can also help avoid infection.
Get in touch with WePrescribe Pharmacy today to get your antimalarials and prevent malaria.
