What is malaria?

Malaria is a disease that is caused by a parasite, that enters the human body through the bite of a mosquito. The mosquito acts as a [simple_tooltip content=’A carrier’]vector[/simple_tooltip] of the parasite. It usually presents with high fever and chills, but do remember that all fevers are not due to malaria. It is [simple_tooltip content=’Prevalent in or limited to a particular locality, or people’]endemic[/simple_tooltip] in India and quite a few other regions in the world.

Are children more prone to malaria?
Young children (between the ages of 6 months and 36 months) are more prone to developing malaria and can develop severe illness. Another group that is vulnerable is pregnant women, who can then go on to deliver low birth-weight children, or in the rare cases, there may be a stillbirth. Due to repeated exposure, adults and older children develop some immunity and either don’t get malaria or have milder attacks.

My child was bitten by a mosquito yesterday! He is running fever, can he have malaria?
This is extremely unlikely! It takes anywhere between 12 and 35 days after being bitten by a mosquito that is carrying the parasite to start showing signs of malaria. Again all mosquitoes are not carriers of the malarial parasite but since it is impossible to know, it is better to take sensible precautions.

What are the usual symptoms of malaria?

• Fever: Usually high (in our country, we have a high index of suspicion in all patients who have fever of short duration) and usually accompanied by –
• Chills: Usually occurs at the height of fever and maybe so much that the whole body can be seen to be shaking.
• General feeling of ill health and fatigue
• Sweating
• Headache
• May have chest symptoms like cough.
• Abdominal symptoms like anorexia, vomiting, nausea, abdominal pain or diarrhea
• Joint pains
• Muscle pains

When should I show my child to the doctor?
Fever is one of the commonest symptoms in children. One should take care of the fever first. Then, if it occurs repeatedly, or if associated with chills, you should schedule an appointment at the earliest.

Will the doctor order blood tests and why are they necessary?
If your doctor suspects malaria strongly, it is mandatory to get a simple blood test done. This is to confirm the diagnosis. It also helps identify different types of malarial parasites. Each has a different treatment schedule and your child can be put on the appropriate one.

What is the treatment, Doctor?
In most children, medicines are given by mouth as per schedule. This schedule varies depending on the type of malarial parasite that is detected.
However, certain children require admission:

• Have symptoms suggesting involvement of the brain like drowsiness, altered consciousness or convulsions
• Have unremitting vomiting or inability to ingest even simple fluids.
• Difficulty in breathing.
• If the child is passing less amount of urine or very, very infrequently.
• If blood tests indicate a very high parasite load, or very low hemoglobin or low blood glucose.
• If the child develops bleeding from any site in the body.

How do we prevent malaria?
Take a look at the measures outlined here.