Malaria history and symptoms
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Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]; Associate Editor(s)-in-Chief: João André Alves Silva, M.D. [2]
Overview
The hallmark symptom of malaria is fever, which commonly occurs in paroxysms, separated by fever-free time intervals. The classical but rarely observed malaria attack lasts 6-10 hours, and it consists of a cold stage, hot stage, and sweating stage. Other common symptoms of malaria include chills, headache, nausea, vomiting, weakness, night sweats, flu-like symptoms, and myalgia. In the presence of a paroxysmal fever, travel history to a country where malaria is endemic is an important alert for the diagnosis.[1]
History
A travel history in the previous three months to a country where malaria is endemic, when in the presence of fever and flu-like symptoms is an important alert for the diagnosis.[2]
Following the infective bite by the Anopheles mosquito, a period of time ranging from 7 to 30 days goes by before the first symptoms appear.
Fever in malaria is classically described as occurring in paroxysms of a few hours. These may be described as:
- Cold stage: where the patient experiences rigors and chills
- Hot stage: characterized by fever, headaches, and children may experience seizures
- Sweating stage: characterized by sweats, return to normal temperature with a feeling of fatigue
The time-interval between fever paroxysms changes according to the type of plasmodium causing the disease:
- "Tertian" fever: paroxysms occur every second day, caused by "tertian" parasites:
- "Quartan" fever: paroxysms occur every third day, caused by the "quartan" parasite:
Symptoms
Common Symptoms
- Fever
- Chills
- Headache
- Weakness
- Night sweats
- Nausea
- Vomiting
- Insomnia
- Joint pain
- Muscle pain
- Abnormal posturing (children)
Less Common Symptoms
- Diarrhea
- Abdominal cramps
- Feeling of tingling in the skin
- Bloody urine
- Convulsions
References
- ↑ Mandell, Gerald (2010). Mandell, Douglas, and Bennett's principles and practice of infectious diseases. Philadelphia, PA: Churchill Livingstone/Elsevier. ISBN 0443068399.
- ↑ Mandell, Gerald (2010). Mandell, Douglas, and Bennett's principles and practice of infectious diseases. Philadelphia, PA: Churchill Livingstone/Elsevier. ISBN 0443068399.