What is malaria?

Have you ever heard of malaria? What kind of disease is malaria? Every summer, many people go to the hospital for treatment and are diagnosed with malaria. If you don't know what malaria is, you will never know that malaria is an infectious disease. Therefore, experts here remind everyone to learn more about health knowledge and do a good job in preventing diseases. So, let’s take a closer look at what malaria is.

Experts remind that summer is the peak season for malaria, so it is recommended that everyone learn about what malaria is and then take measures to prevent malaria in advance, so that you can stay away from the trouble of malaria and maintain your own health.

Malaria is an infectious disease caused by Plasmodium parasites in human blood. It is transmitted through mosquito bites when sucking blood, and is more common in summer and autumn.

Malaria can be divided into Plasmodium vivax, Plasmodium malariae and Plasmodium falciparum. Most patients shiver and then develop high fever, flushed face, headache, thirst, and body aches. Then I started sweating all over and my body temperature quickly returned to normal. Such symptoms may recur periodically. Plasmodium vivax malaria occurs every other day, malaria quartan malaria occurs every two days; malignant malaria attacks are irregular. In severe cases, there may be symptoms such as severe headache, mental confusion, convulsions, coma, and incontinence.

Malaria is a vector-borne infectious disease caused by Plasmodium through the bite of Anopheles mosquitoes or transfusion of blood from people carrying Plasmodium. There are four types of malarial parasites that parasitize humans, namely Plasmodium vivax, Plasmodium malariae, Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium ovale. In my country, the main species are Plasmodium vivax and Plasmodium falciparum; the other two species are rare, and some cases imported from abroad have occasionally been seen in recent years. Different malarial parasites cause vivax malaria, malaria malariae, falciparum malaria and ovale malaria. The main manifestations of this disease are periodic regular attacks, with chills, fever, and sweating all over the body. After long-term and multiple attacks, it can cause anemia and splenomegaly.

Clinical manifestations

1. Incubation period

The period from human infection with Plasmodium to onset of disease (oral temperature exceeds 37.8℃) is called the incubation period. The incubation period includes the entire infrared period and the first reproductive cycle of the intraerythral period. The general duration of Plasmodium vivax malaria and Plasmodium ovale malaria is 14 days, that of falciparum malaria is 12 days, and that of Quarternary malaria is 30 days. Different amounts and strains of infectious protozoa, differences in human immunity, and different modes of infection can all result in different incubation periods. In temperate regions there are so-called long-latency strains, which can last up to 8 to 14 months. The incubation period of transfusion infection is 7 to 10 days. For fetal-transmitted malaria, the incubation period is even shorter. The incubation period may be prolonged for people with a certain level of immunity or who have taken preventive medication.

2. Chilling period

Sudden chills, first in the extremities, then in the back and whole body. The skin has goose bumps, the lips and nails are cyanotic, the face is pale, and there are muscle and joint pains all over the body. Then the whole body starts to shiver and the teeth chatter. Some people cannot stop shaking even by covering themselves with several quilts. The shaking lasts for about 10 minutes or even an hour, and then the chills stop naturally and the body temperature rises. Patients often feel seriously ill during this stage.

3. Fever period

After the feeling of cold disappears, the face turns red, cyanosis disappears, and the body temperature rises rapidly. Usually, the more obvious the coldness, the higher the body temperature, which can reach above 40°C. Patients with high fever suffer unbearable pain. Some tossed and turned restlessly, groaning incessantly; some were delirious, staring into space, or even convulsing or unconscious; some suffered from severe headaches and persistent vomiting. The patient has red face and shortness of breath; conjunctival congestion; burning and dry skin; rapid and strong pulse; and short and dark urine. They often complain of palpitations, thirst, and desire for cold drinks. It lasts for 2 to 6 hours, and sometimes even more than 10 hours. Herpes is common on the lips and nose after several attacks.

4. Sweating period

In the later stage of high fever, there is slight sweat on the face and palms, which then spreads throughout the body. The sweat is profuse, and the clothes are soaked. The body temperature drops within 2 to 3 hours, often to 35.5℃. The patient feels comfortable but very sleepy and often falls asleep peacefully. After waking up, you will feel refreshed, your appetite will be restored, and you can go back to work as usual. This is the intermission period.

prevention

Malaria prevention refers to the protection of susceptible populations. It includes individual prevention and group prevention. Individual prevention refers to the protective measures taken by residents in malaria-affected areas or individuals who enter malaria-affected areas for a short period of time to prevent mosquito bites, prevent disease or alleviate clinical symptoms. Group prevention is aimed at preventing the spread of malaria in high-risk malaria areas, epidemic areas, or people who live in malaria-affected areas for a long time in large numbers. In addition to the purpose of individual prevention, it is also necessary to prevent the spread of the disease. We should choose protective measures that are economical, effective and easy for the masses to accept based on the weak links in the transmission channels. Preventive measures include: mosquito-borne disease control, drug prevention or vaccine prevention.

From this we understand that malaria is an infectious disease that is very easy to develop in the summer, and prevention is the key. Among them, malaria is mainly divided into four periods: incubation period, chill period, fever period and sweating period. This disease process will cause the human body to feel very uncomfortable, so we remind everyone to detect the symptoms of malaria early in the summer and do a good job of prevention.