Malaria is an infectious disease caused by a parasite which is transmitted from human to human by the bite of infected female Anopheles mosquitoes. Once injected into the bloodstream of a human host (via bite), the parasite travels to the liver, undergoes alteration, after which it is released back into the bloodstream to invade the red blood cells. In the RBC, the parasites multiply and cause the red blood cells to rupture. The incubation time from mosquito bite to infection ranges from 6 to 60 days, with variances depending on the specific Malaria infection.

Causes

A bite from a mosquito infected with certain parasites causes malaria. In extremely rare cases, people can get malaria if they come into contact with infected blood, or an unborn baby (fetus) may get the disease from its mother. You cannot get malaria by being near a person who has the disease.

Symptoms

Malarial attacks present over 4 to 6 hours with shaking chills, high fever, and sweating, and are often associated with fatigue, headache, dizziness, nausea, vomiting, abdominal cramps, dry cough, muscle or joint pain, and back ache. The attacks may occur every other day or every third day.

Fever or other symptoms can develop in malaria as early as 8 days or as late as 60 days after exposure or stopping prophylaxis.

Treatment

Malaria can be cured if treated while in its early stages. Most of the time antimalarial medications effectively treat the infection; however, some malaria parasites may survive because they are in the liver or are resistant to the medication. Drugs include chloroquine, mefloquine, primaquine, quinine, pyrimethamine-sulfadoxine (Fansidar), and doxycycline. Some plasmodium have developed resistance to certain medications, and therefore, alternative medications will be prescribed for you.