Malaria symptoms and Causes

In this article we willdiscuss the malaria symptoms and causes, hoping this can guide you in the fight against malaria.

What is malaria?

A parasite that usually infects certain types of human-eating mosquitoes, is the cause of malaria, a serious and sometimes fatal disease. High fever, chills, and a flu-like illness are severe sicknesses that can be seen in people who get malaria. Plasmodium falciparum, P. vivax, P. ovale, and P. malariae are the four species of malaria parasites that infect humans.

In addition, P. knowlesi infects humans and causes malaria that is transmitted from animals to humans ("zoonotic" malaria), and it is a species of malaria that naturally affects monkeys in Southeast Asia. P. falciparum is the type of malaria that if not treated early, can be fatal and also most likely to cause serious infections. Illness and death from malaria can usually be prevented although malaria can be a deadly disease.

Malaria burden

There were 247 million malaria cases in 2021 compared to 245 million cases in 2020, according to the most recent World Malaria Report. The number of deaths estimated from malaria was 625,000 in 2020 compared to 619,000 in the year 2021, COVID related illnesses over the peak pandemic years of 2020-2021 resulted in approximately 63,000 more malaria deaths and 13 million more malaria cases.

The WHO states that a disproportionate high share of the global burden of malaria is carried by African Region. By 2021, Africa accounts for around 96% of deaths and 95% of all malaria cases. About 80% of all malaria deaths in the Region was seen in children below 5 years of age. More than half of all deaths by malaria in the world was seen in four African countries: the United Republic of Tanzania (4.1%), the Democratic Republic of the Congo (12.6%), Niger (3.9%) and Nigeria (31.3%).

Why is the malaria disease very common in Africa?

Anopheles gambiae is the main malaria mosquito in sub-Saharan regions that transmits malaria very efficiently. Plasmodium falciparum is the most common malaria pathogen found here and causes severe and life-threatening disease. The establishment of a robust malaria control program may be prevented by the lack of resources and political instability. Another barrier to malaria control on the continent is the increasing resistance of the malaria parasites to antimalarial drugs. Malaria is said to occur in "rural" areas in some countries.

How to know if an area is urban or rural?

What constitutes a rural area can vary from country to country. In general, both the size of the population and the economic development of an area that is concentrated in commercial activities such as transportation, the sale of services and goods, and manufacturing can be said to affects urbanization. Agriculture, lower population densities, more green space, and fewer businesses may be a general key feature that most rural areas have.

Malaria causes

A single-celled parasite of the genus Plasmodium causes malaria. Mosquito bites often transmit this parasite to humans.

Transmission cycle of the mosquito:

1. Uninfected mosquito. Feeding on a person with malaria will infect a mosquito.
2. Parasitic transmission. This mosquito can transmit the malaria parasite to you if it bites you in the future.
3. In the human liver. The parasites make their way to your liver once they enter your body. Where some types can remain dormant for up to a year.
4. In the bloodstream. The parasites leave the liver and infect red blood cells when they mature. This is usually when people show malaria symptoms.
5. To the next person. At this point in the cycle, if you are bitten by a mosquito that is not infected, your malaria parasite will infect the mosquito and when it bites other people, it can pass it on.

Other malaria transmission modes

People can also get malaria from exposure to infected blood, because the parasite that causes malaria affects red blood cells, including:

1. By sharing used needles
2. From mother to baby
3. Via blood transfusions.

Malaria symptoms and signs?

1. Malaria symptoms and signs include:
2. Muscle and aches headache.
3. Cough, chest pain, and shortness of breath.
4. Sweating and fever.
5. Fatigue and Chills shake your entire body.
6. Vomiting, diarrhea, and nausea.

Malaria can cause jaundice (yellowing of the skin and whites of the eyes) and anemia when it gets worse. Cerebral malaria, which can progress to coma is the most severe form of malaria. This species accounts for about nearly 20% of adult deaths and 15% of infant deaths.

Malaria diagnosis

Malaria can be diagnosed by your doctor. Your doctor will review your medical history during your appointment, including recent travel to tropical climates. A physical exam is also done to determine if you have an enlarged liver or spleen. If you have malaria symptoms, additional blood tests may order by your to confirm the diagnosis.

This test shows:

1. Whether the infection was caused by malaria parasite that is resistant to a particular drug.
2. If the malaria parasite has resulted to anemia.
3. If your vital organs have been affected by the malaria disease.
4. If you have malaria parasite.
5. What kind of malaria parasite.

Malaria prevention

Increased access to recommended WHO malaria prevention strategies and tools, including the f preventive antimalarial medicines usage, and effective vector control over the past 2 decades, has played a huge role reducing the global malaria burden.

Vaccination:

The widespread use of the RTS,S/AS01 malaria vaccine has been recommended by WHO Since October 2021, in children living in areas with moderate to high transmission of P. falciparum malaria. Fatal and severe malaria in young children has been shown to be reduced significantly by the vaccine.

Preventive chemotherapy:

Using of drugs, in combination or alone, to prevent malaria consequences and infection is referred to as preventive chemotherapy. This requires administering to at-risk populations an antimalarial drugs (usually infants, pregnant women, and kids below 5 years of age) at the time of highest malaria risk at designated times, whether or not the recipients are have malaria parasite.

Malarial chemotherapy includes Mass Drug Administration (MDA), intermittent preventive treatment of malaria in pregnancy (IPTp), seasonal malaria chemoprevention (SMC), and in school-age children (IPTsc), chemoprevention of PDMC (post discharged malaria) and perennial malaria chemoprevention (PMC). This cost-effective and safe strategy is designed to complement current malaria control projects, including, antimalarial drugs treatment of confirmed cases, timely diagnosis of suspected malaria cases, and vector control measures.

Vector control:

An important part of the malaria elimination strategy and control is vector control. This is because it is highly effective in reducing disease transmission and preventing infection. The two main actions are and indoor residual spraying (IRS) and insecticide-treated bed nets (ITN). The emergence of resistance to insecticides in Anopheles mosquitoes threatens the advances in global malaria control.

Other threats to ITNs includes the loss of nets as a result of daily pressures of life beyond replacement, inadequate access, and altered mosquitoes behavior, which appear to rest outdoors to avoid contact with insecticides and bite before people go to bed, as detailed in the most recent World Malaria Report.

Malaria treatment

It is essential to begin with the treatment of malaria as soon as diagnosed. Some malaria parasites are resistant to antimalarial drugs. Your doctor will prescribe medicine to destroy the malaria parasite. In chemotherapy, malaria drugs are given in combination with other drugs. The type of parasite determines for how long you take it and what type of medicine you take.

Malaria medications include:

1. Primaquine: Best antimalarial medication.
2. Artemisinin medicine (artesunate and artemether). Artemisinin-based combination therapy is the ideal treatment for Plasmodium falciparum malaria, when available.
3. mefloquine. Best antimalarial medication.
4. Quinine. Best antimalarial medication.
5. Atovaquone (Mepron®). Best antimalarial drug
6. chloroquine. There’re some parasites resistant to this drug.
7. Doxycycline (Doxy-100®, Monodox®, Oracea®). Best antimalarial drug.