malaria
...th malaria you develop a high fever that goes and comes back periodically. Depending on what species of malaria determines how often the fever will return. In most cases the returning fever isn’t even a symptom. The infection is more like the flu with high fever and body aches. Along with flu symptoms, infected people will also have headaches, sweating problems, and shaking problems. They will also be very weak. As the infection continues the fevers seem to go away and the infected person believes that they are okay now. That is not the case because malaria can hang around for several years, especially if the person is exposed to malaria for a long period of time. This creates a kind of immunity in the infected person and while infected for years the person may show a few symptoms. Malaria is caused by protozoan parasites that come from the genus Plasmodium. In the genus there are four species that can cause the infection. These four species are Plasmodium falciparum, Plasmodium vivax, Plasmodium ovale, and Plasmodium malaria. Plasmodium falciparum is the most dangerous of the four. This species can cause the red blood cells to break down, kidney failure, coma, and death. Your kidneys are the organs that actually clean the blood, so they are very important. Also, they make hormones that keep your bones strong and blood healthy. If untreated this species can lead to fatal cerebral malaria. Plasmodium ovale can also cause anemia, but it isn’t as bad. Usually you don’t see people dying from being infected from this species. Plasmodium vivax can cause the spleen to rupture and can also cause anemia. With the ovale and vivax species, people can relapse several months after being infected because of the dormant forms called hypnozoites remaining in the liver. Plasmodium malaria also doesn’t take that many lives, but can eventually lead to kidney failure. If this infection isn’t treated it can pretty much last your entire life. Malaria is spread by the bite of an infected female mosquito. The mosquito then injects young forms of the malaria into the person’s blood. As mentioned before their first destination is the liver where they will develop into their new stage. They then enter the blood again where they attack red blood cells and begin to multiply. Now when a non-infected mosquito bites an infected person, the mosquito sucks up parasites from the persons blood. Now the mosquito is infected with malaria. The parasites will develop while in the mosquito. When that mosquito goes to bite another person, that person will now be infected with malaria. Another way which isn’t to common for malaria to be transmitted is by transfusion of blood from an infected person or by the use of needles or syringes contaminated with blood of an infected person. Before traveling to places where malaria is prevalent, anti-malaria drugs are given to the people. It is important to go to the doctor maybe a month before your departure because some treatments must be given at least two weeks before you leave the country. Also, the treatment might go as far as you taking it for a month after you return too. The type of anti-malaria medication given will all depend on the area the person plans on visiting. If a person believes they have malaria they should visit the doctor as soon as possible. The doctor will then perform a blood ...