Question: Which are the main characteristics of the disease Malaria.

Lucy McGowan answered on 16 Jun 2020: last edited 16 Jun 2020 11:26 am

Hi Gabriela. Malaria is caused by Plasmodium parasites, there are 5 different species which can infect humans but the most severe is Plasmodium falciparum. Malaria is transmitted from person to person via mosquitoes which feed on blood. Once a human is infected with the parasite, it travels to the liver where it matures for about 1 week. It then leaves the liver and infects red blood cells. The symptoms only develop once the parasite infects the blood cells. If an infected person is bitten by a mosquito, the disease can then be taken up by the mosquito and transmitted to a new host.
I had malaria, it was a pretty nasty illness and the symptoms were fairly similar to bad flu. I experienced high fever which came and went every other day (this is a classic symptom of malaria). I also had aches in my bones and tiredness, dizziness, confusion and vomiting. That’s because every 2-3 days (depending on the species of malaria you are infected with) the parasite bursts out of the blood cells to infect new cells. This damages the blood cells making you feel very tired and feverish and causes anaemia. The aching comes from the body trying to make new red blood cells to replace the damaged ones and making immune cells to fight the infection. The most severe symptoms of malaria can be caused by the inflammatory response to the parasite and when the damaged red blood cells block the blood vessels supplying vital organs. If this happens in the brain it can be very damaging. This is called cerebral malaria and it can result in seizures, organ failure and coma.