Signs & Symptoms


An infected person has symptoms begin 10 days to 4 weeks after being bitten by a malaria-infected mosquito. 

Malaria often produces symptoms including:

Symptoms of Malaria
  • Fever 
  • Shaking Chills 
  • Headache 
  • Tiredness
  • Muscle Aches

Other symptoms may include fatigue, nausea, flulike illness, diarrhoea and vomiting. The classic symptom of malaria is cyclical occurrence of sudden coldness followed by rigor and then fever and sweating lasting four to six hours, occurring every two days in P. vivax and P. ovale infections, and every three days for P. malariae. P. falciparum can have recurrent fever every 36–48 hours or a less pronounced and almost continuous fever. Periods of latency may last several weeks or months. The disease has a tendency to relapse and is characterized by the enlargement of the spleen and secondary anaemia.

          However in some cases, symptoms mentioned above may not appear. Since infection of any kind leads to fever, during epidemics, it is better to test all fever for malaria in a laboratory under the microscope. There might be vomiting, diarrhoea, coughing, and yellowing (jaundice) of the skin and whites of the eyes due to destruction of red blood cells and liver cells. Cerebral malaria is associated with retinal whitening, which may be a useful clinical sign in distinguishing malaria from other causes of fever.

An Unfortunate Child With Malaria
      Severe malaria is almost exclusively caused by Plasmodium falciparum infection, and usually arises 6–14 days after infection. People with severe P. falciparum malaria can develop bleeding problems, shock, liver or kidney failure, central nervous system problems, coma, and can die from the infection or its complications. Cerebral malaria (coma, or altered mental status or seizures) can occur with severe P. falciparum infection. It is lethal if not treated quickly; even with treatment, about 15%-20% die. Severe malaria can progress extremely rapidly and cause death within hours or days. In the most severe cases of the disease, fatality rates can exceed 20%, even with intensive care and treatment. In endemic areas, treatment is often less satisfactory and the overall fatality rate for all cases of malaria can be as high as one in ten. Over the longer term, developmental impairments have been documented in children who have suffered episodes of severe malaria.

6 comments:

  1. Lao Sai Kia2 April 2012 at 01:25

    Is kidney failure caused by the large amount of poison released by Plasmodium vivax or is it because of something else? Is liver failure caused by large amounts of erythrocytes lysed by the virus?

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    1. Malaria6 April 2012 at 00:38

      Hello there! Malaria, and specifically Plasmodium falciparum malaria, the most severe and deadly form of the disease, can certainly cause both renal failure and brain fever. It usually does this by infecting red blood cells, which then become blocked in tiny blood vessels deep within organs. This process is called sequestration. When sequestration happens in the brain, the effect can be so-called “cerebral malaria” or brain fever. In the kidney, this can result in kidney failure. Given these severe consequences, it is crucially important to seek diagnosis and then treatment immediately if you are concerned you might be suffering from malaria. I hope I answered your question ;D

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    2. Lao Sai Kia8 April 2012 at 08:26

      What changes does the infection of Plasmodium have on the red blood cells that causes it to block blood vessels?

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  2. The Aids Group5 April 2012 at 05:26

    How can we differentiate malaria symptoms from dengue symptoms? Or do we need a medical check up to confirm the disease?

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    Replies
    1. Malaria5 April 2012 at 23:25

      Dengue starts with sudden onset of fever that last for long duration (about two to seven days). This fever can go up to 39.5-41.4°C (103.1-106.52°F). Other symptoms of dengue include nausea, vomiting, loss of appetite, pain in eyes and rashes on upper and lower limbs. Rashes occurs in the first or second day of symptoms as flushed skin, or later in the course of illness (days 4–7), as a measles-like rash. Some petechiae (small red spots that do not disappear when the skin is pressed, which are caused by broken capillaries) can appear at this point, as may some mild bleeding from the mucous membranes of the mouth and nose.

      Unlike dengue, in malaria the fever is of shorter duration. The symptoms include chills, anemia, joint pain, vomiting, convulsions and sweating. Symptoms of malaria typically occurs in three stages namely, cold stage, hot stage and sweating stage, where in sudden coldness is followed by fever and sweating.Patients may also experience a degree of damage to the retina. Also, the more serious symptoms for malaria are problems in the central nervous system, comatose, shock, seizures and liver or kidney failure.

      Body and muscle aches, backache, headache, mild nausea,etc can be present with both conditions but the malaria would show a characteristic fever with chills and rigors that would differentiate it between the fever in dengue which would not be associated with such chills or rigors in most instances. At the same time, the appearance of skin manifestations such as macular or macular popular rash, petechial hemorrhages as well as itching and scaling of the skin would be characteristic to dengue fever and would not be apparent in malaria fever.

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  3. Le Cancer Du Poumon6 April 2012 at 08:00

    May we know how the fever cause by malaria differs from ordinary fever, if there are differences, that is?

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