Fever, back pain, and headaches? Don't ignore malaria symptoms, it could be fatal

One of the world’s deadliest diseases, malaria, has been a major cause of concern in India and around the world.
The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) calls malaria a silent emergency that kills one child every 30 seconds, that's about 3000 children every day.

According to the World Malaria Report 2017, around 698 million people were at risk of malaria in 2016. In the same year, India accounted for 6% of all malaria cases in the world and the total number of cases in India was at 1.31 million, out of which 23,990 people lost their lives to the disease.

Causes
The mosquito-borne disease is caused by the Plasmodium parasite, which gets transmitted by female anopheles mosquito. It spread four species of parasite - P. falciparum, P. malariae, P. ovale and P. vivax. The most severe form is caused by P. falciparum, resulting in the most dangerous cerebral malaria.

Who's at risk?
These mosquitoes bite mainly at night, between dusk and dawn. Pregnant women, children, elderly, and people with poor immunity are more vulnerable to this disease.


Infants who are born to mothers with malaria are more likely to have low birth weight, which can increase the risk of death in the first month. In mothers, the disease can lead to miscarriage, stillbirth and maternal death.

Signs and Symptoms
The symptoms start showing seven days or 10-15 days after an infected mosquito bites. In some cases, the symptoms may not appear for up to a year.

The symptoms include:
- Fever
- Chills
- Sweating
- Back pain
- Vomiting
- Diarrhoea
- Kidney failure
- Severe headaches
- Convulsion
- Coma
- Muscle pains


One of the complications is severe anaemia, where the red blood cells can't carry enough oxygen around the body, resulting in weakness and drowsiness. Another complication the much-feared cerebral malaria, described as unrousable coma, can be fatal if treatment is delayed.

The complications in malaria are:
- No or low immunity
- Low blood sugar levels
- Lungs being accumulated with abnormal fluids
- Bleeding
- Circulatory collapse
- Shock


Prevention
- Apply insect repellent with DEET
- Keep yourself covered, especially between dusk and dawn
- Use a mosquito net while sleeping
- Keep your surroundings clean
- Speak to your family doctor to understand about the risk, incubation period, possibility of delayed onset, and symptoms
- Ask your doctor about anti-malarial drugs, which can prevent the infection from developing into clinical disease

(Inputs from www.malarianomore.org, www.unicef.org and www.who.int)