What is malaria? Malaria concept

When it comes to malaria, many people are very unfamiliar with it. Because malaria is not common in China, most people don’t know what malaria is. This is an extremely contagious infectious disease. If not treated in time, it will develop into malignant malaria with a very high mortality rate, with periodic regular attacks as the main symptom.

1. Malaria concept

Malaria is an infectious disease caused by Plasmodium parasites parasitizing the human body. It is transmitted through the bite of Anopheles mosquitoes or the transfusion of blood from people carrying Plasmodium. Different Plasmodium parasites cause vivax malaria, quartan malaria, falciparum malaria and ovale malaria respectively. The main manifestations of this disease are periodic regular attacks, chills, fever, sweating, and long-term and multiple attacks, which can cause anemia and splenomegaly. Malaria is prevalent in 102 countries and regions. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 2 billion people live in endemic areas, especially in Africa, Southeast Asia, and some countries in Central and South America. The mortality rate of falciparum malaria is extremely high.

2. Symptoms

(1) Prodromal stage: The patient experiences fatigue, headache, malaise, anorexia, chills and low-grade fever. This stage is equivalent to the malarial parasite (schizont) in the liver cells developing into mature merozoites and releasing them into the bloodstream. However, because the density of protozoa in the peripheral blood is too low, microscopic examination is usually negative.

(2) Chills or chills: lasts from a few minutes to an hour, often accompanied by headache, nausea and vomiting. At this time, the body temperature is usually over 38°C. When the malarial parasites are examined under a microscope, most of them are schizonts and ring bodies.

(3) Fever phase: generally lasts for 3 to 4 hours, with the headache aggravating and the body temperature exceeding 40°C. Patients with multiple relapses may only have slight chills and low fever from time to time, or dizziness, headache, muscle and joint pain, and trigeminal neuralgia without obvious high fever. The protozoa seen during the fever phase are mainly small trophozoites.

(4) Sweating phase: The patient may sweat slightly or even profusely. During this phase, the body temperature quickly returns to normal and the above symptoms gradually disappear.

(5) Interval period: refers to the interval between two attacks. The length of time depends on the parasite species and immunity. In typical cases, the interval period of malignant malaria is very irregular, ranging from a few hours to 24 to 48 hours. The interval period of vivax malaria and ovale malaria is about 48 hours, and that of quartan malaria is 72 hours. Except for malignant malaria, the protozoa seen by microscopy are mainly large trophozoites.

3. Traditional Chinese Medicine Treatment of Malaria

Malaria symptoms

[Main symptoms] Chills and high fever, which come and go at intervals. First there is yawning and fatigue, followed by chills and trembling chin. When the chills stop, there is heat inside and outside, headache and red face, thirst and urge to drink, and finally sweating all over the body, and the fever subsides and the body becomes cool. The tongue is red with a thin white coating, or yellow and greasy, and the pulse is stringy.

【Treatment method】Reconciliation and elimination of evil.

[Prescription] Chaihu Jielan Drink modified with bupleurum, pinellia, radix dichroica, red ginseng, cardamom, jujube, scutellaria, ginger, and betel nut. If the patient has a strong exterior with little sweat and severe aversion to cold, add cinnamon twig, saposhnikovia divaricata, and angelica dahurica to relieve the exterior and induce sweating; if the patient has dry mouth and desire to drink, add kudzu root and dendrobium to produce fluid and quench thirst; if the dampness and heat are excessive and there is fullness and stuffiness in the chest and abdomen, remove the ginseng and add atractylodes, magnolia bark, and green tangerine peel to regulate qi and eliminate dampness.