Malaria is characterized clinically by 3 stages :
- Cold Stage : The patient will have fever of sudden onset with rigor (shaking chills) and a feeling of extreme cold which is accompanied by shivering.
- Hot Stage : The patient complains of sensation of burning and tries to take off all the clothes on him. The patient will have splitting headache. -
- Sweating Stage : The fever subsides accompanied by profuse sweating.
After an interval £tee of fever, the cycle of chills followed by fever and sweating is repeated either daily, alternate day or every third day. If untreated, the primary attack may last from a week to more than a month. Relapses occur at irregular intervals for several years. Enlargement of spleen is common in areas where malaria is persistent. The patients may also have anaemia (reduction of haemoglobin in blood).
Actually there are 4 types of malaria. They are quite similar in their symptoms and often it is difficult to differentiate them without laboratory studies. The most serious is malignant tertian malaria or falciparum malaria. Apart from the symptoms mentioned above, it can affect central nervous system leading to loss of orientation, delirium and may even lead to coma.
The other human malaria-benign tertian or vivals, quartan and ovale are not dangerous as to lead to death, except perhaps in very young children.
Complications of malaria
Cerebral malaria is an extremely dangerous complication of falciparum malaria The patients may have convulsions (fits) and end in coma. Fatality is very high in such cases.
Diarrhoea and malnutrition are also considered to be common complications of malaria. Chronic anaemia also is common in children with malaria.
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