Malaria is a disease that causes a high fever, chills, and muscle pain. You can get it from a bite from an infected mosquito. Malaria is very rare in the United States. It’s most often found in Africa, Southern Asia, Central America, and South America.
Symptoms may come and go in cycles. Malaria may also cause more serious problems. These include damage to the heart, lungs, kidneys, or brain. It can even be deadly. But you can do a lot to prevent this infection.
What causes malaria?
You get malaria when a mosquito infected with parasites bites you and transfers the parasite to you. You can't get malaria just by being near a person who has the disease.
Malaria is spread when an infected Anopheles mosquito bites a person. This is the only type of mosquito that can spread malaria. The mosquito becomes infected by biting an infected person and drawing blood that contains the parasite. When that mosquito bites another person, that person becomes infected.
What are the symptoms of malaria?
In the early stages, malaria symptoms are sometimes similar to those of many other infections caused by bacteria, viruses, or parasites. It can start with flu-like symptoms.
Symptoms may include:
Fever. This is the most common symptom.
Chills.
Headache.
Sweats.
Fatigue.
Nausea and vomiting.
Body aches.
Generally feeling sick.
People who get infected many times may have the disease but have few or no symptoms. How bad malaria symptoms are can vary depending on your age, general health, and the kind of malaria parasite that you have.
In rare cases, malaria can lead to impaired function of the brain or spinal cord, seizures, or loss of consciousness. The most serious types of malaria infection can be deadly.
When symptoms appear
The time from the initial malaria infection until symptoms appear (incubation period) is usually 7 to 30 days. But with infections from some parasite species, signs of illness may not appear for many months after exposure. For example, you may get a fever up to a year after traveling to a country where malaria is found.
The incubation period may also be longer if you are taking medicine to prevent infection. If you have some immunity due to previous infections, your symptoms may be less severe, or you may not have any symptoms.
Symptoms may appear in cycles. The time between episodes of fever and other symptoms varies with the specific parasite infection that you have.
What Are the Different Types of Malaria Parasites?
Five species of Plasmodium (single-celled parasites) can infect humans and cause illness:
Plasmodium falciparum (or P. falciparum)
Plasmodium malariae (or P. malariae)
Plasmodium vivax (or P. vivax)
Plasmodium ovale (or P. ovale)
Plasmodium knowlesi (or P. knowlesi)
Falciparum malaria is potentially life-threatening. Patients with severe falciparum malaria may develop liver and kidney failure, convulsions, and coma. Although occasionally severe, infections with P. vivax and P. ovale generally cause less serious illness, but the parasites can remain dormant in the liver for many months, causing a reappearance of symptoms months or even years later.
How is malaria diagnosed?
The doctor will ask you questions about your health and do a physical exam. If the doctor thinks you may have malaria, he or she will use a blood smear to check for the disease. During this test, a sample of blood is placed on a glass slide, prepared, and looked at under a microscope.
A blood smear test can help diagnose malaria. It can also help a doctor see what type of malaria parasite you have and how many parasites are in your blood. This can help with decisions about treatment.
If the first blood smear doesn't show malaria, your doctor may order more tests every 12 to 24 hours.
A blood test that can diagnose malaria quickly is also available. If this rapid test points to malaria, the results are usually confirmed with a blood smear.
If you've been in an area where malaria occurs and you get a fever up to a year after you return, your doctor may test you for malaria. If the tests don't show malaria, you may need more tests to make sure that you don't have a malaria infection. During treatment, tests are repeated to follow the course of the infection and to see if the treatment is working.
Other tests
Other useful tests that may be done include:
Polymerase chain reaction (PCR). This test detects parasite nucleic acids and identifies the species of malaria parasite.
Complete blood count (CBC). This checks for anemia or evidence of other possible infections. Anemia sometimes develops in people with malaria, because the parasites damage red blood cells.
A blood glucose test. This measures the amount of a type of sugar, called glucose, in your blood.
How is malaria treated?
Malaria is treated with medicine. Several things influence the choice of medicine. They include:
Whether the medicine is being used to prevent or to treat malaria.
Your condition (such as your age, your health, or whether you are pregnant).
How sick you are from malaria.
Whether the malaria parasite may be resistant to certain medicines.
Side effects of the medicine.
Your age and health condition are important factors in selecting a medicine to prevent or treat malaria. Pregnant women, children, people who are very old, people who have other health problems, and those who didn't take medicine to prevent malaria infection need special consideration.
Exchange blood transfusions may be considered for treating severe cases of malaria. They are the quickest way to remove parasites. Blood is taken from you at the same time that you receive donor blood. You also get medicine to treat the infection.
If you are going to areas where there is no medical care available, you can get medicine before you leave and carry it with you while you travel. Your doctor will give you instructions on how to use the medicine if you should get malaria symptoms. This is a short-term measure until you can get medical care. Seek medical care as soon as you can (ideally within 24 hours).
The most current information about the prevention and treatment of malaria is available from:
Can Malaria Be Prevented?
Malaria can often be prevented by the use of antimalarial drugs and use of protection measures against mosquito bites.
Medications
When planning to travel to an area where malaria occurs, talk with your doctor well in advance of your departure. Drugs to prevent malaria can be prescribed for travelers to malarious areas, but travelers from different countries may receive different recommendations, reflecting differences in treatment protocols as well as availability of medicines in different countries. Travelers visiting only cities or rural areas where there is no risk of malaria may not require preventive drugs, but an exact itinerary is necessary to determine what degree of protection may be needed.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), there are several medications recommended for prevention of malaria in travelers. Determining which medication is best depends on several factors, such as your medical history and the amount of time before your scheduled departure. Strict adherence to the recommended doses and schedules of the antimalarial drug selected is necessary for effective protection.
Protection from mosquitoes
Be aware that you are still at risk for malaria even with the use of protection.
To avoid mosquito bites, the CDC recommends the following:
Apply insect repellent to exposed skin. The recommended repellent contains 20-35% percent N,N-Diethyl-meta-toluamide (DEET).
Wear long-sleeved clothing and long pants if you are outdoors at night.
Use a mosquito net over the bed if your bedroom is not air-conditioned or screened. For additional protection, treat the mosquito net with the insecticide permethrin.
Spray an insecticide or repellent on clothing, as mosquitoes may bite through thin clothing.
Spray pyrethrin or a similar insecticide in your bedroom before going to bed.
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