How do People Get Malaria?
A person gets malaria from the bite of an infected female mosquito. The mosquito injects young forms of the malaria parasite into the bite wound/bloodstream. The parasites invade red blood cells, finish growing, and multiply quickly.
The number of parasites increases until the red blood cells burst, releasing thousands of parasites into the person's bloodstream. The cycle of infection keeps repeating and often requires emergency treatment. About 2% of persons die because of delayed treatment.
Malaria is a serious and sometimes fatal disease caused by a parasite that commonly infects a certain type of mosquito which feeds on humans. People who get malaria are typically very sick with high fevers, shaking chills, and flu-like illness. Four kinds of malaria parasites have long been known to infect humans: Plasmodium falciparum, P.
Ovale, and P. Recently, it has been recognized that P. Knowlesi, a type of malaria that naturally infects macaques in Southeast Asia, also infects humans, causing malaria that is transmitted from animal to human ("zoonotic" malaria).
Falciparum is the type of malaria that is most likely to result in severe infections and if not promptly treated, may lead to death. Although malaria can be a deadly disease, illness and death from malaria can usually be prevented. About 1,500 cases of malaria are diagnosed in the United States each year.
The vast majority of cases in the United States are in travelers and immigrants returning from parts of the world where malaria transmission occurs, including sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. Globally, the World Health Organization estimates that in 2010, 216 million clinical cases of malaria occurred, and 655,000 people died of malaria, most of them children in Africa. Because malaria causes so much illness and death, the disease is a great drain on many national economies. Since many countries with malaria are already among the poorer nations, the disease maintains a vicious cycle of disease and poverty.
How is malaria transmitted? Usually, people get malaria by being bitten by an infective female Anopheles mosquito. Only Anopheles mosquitoes can transmit malaria and they must have been infected through a previous blood meal taken from an infected person.
When a mosquito bites an infected person, a small amount of blood is taken in which contains microscopic malaria parasites. About 1 week later, when the mosquito takes its next blood meal, these parasites mix with the mosquito's saliva and are injected into the person being bitten. Because the malaria parasite is found in red blood cells of an infected person, malaria can also be transmitted through blood transfusion, organ transplant, or the shared use of needles or syringes contaminated with blood.
Malaria may also be transmitted from a mother to her unborn infant before or during delivery ("congenital" malaria). Is malaria a contagious disease? Malaria is not spread from person to person like a cold or the flu, and it cannot be sexually transmitted.
You cannot get malaria from casual contact with malaria-infected people, such as sitting next to someone who has malaria. Who is at risk for malaria? Anyone can get malaria.
Most cases occur in people who live in countries with malaria transmission. People from countries with no malaria can become infected when they travel to countries with malaria or through a blood transfusion (although this is very rare). Also, an infected mother can transmit malaria to her infant before or during delivery.
Who is most at risk of getting very sick and dying from malaria? Plasmodium falciparum is the type of malaria that most often causes severe and life-threatening malaria; this parasite is very common in many countries in Africa south of the Sahara desert. People who are heavily exposed to the bites of mosquitoes infected with P.
Falciparum are most at risk of dying from malaria. People who have little or no immunity to malaria, such as young children and pregnant women or travelers coming from areas with no malaria, are more likely to become very sick and die. Poor people living in rural areas who lack access to health care are at greater risk for this disease.
As a result of all these factors, an estimated 90% of deaths due to malaria occur in Africa south of the Sahara; most of these deaths occur in children under 5 years of age. What are the signs and symptoms of malaria? Symptoms of malaria include fever and flu-like illness, including shaking chills, headache, muscle aches, and tiredness.
Nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea may also occur. Malaria may cause anemia and jaundice (yellow coloring of the skin and eyes) because of the loss of red blood cells. If not promptly treated, the infection can become severe and may cause kidney failure, seizures, mental confusion, coma, and death.
How soon will a person feel sick after being bitten by an infected mosquito? For most people, symptoms begin 10 days to 4 weeks after infection, although a person may feel ill as early as 7 days or as late as 1 year later. Two kinds of malaria, P.
Vivax and P. Ovale, can occur again (relapsing malaria). Vivax and P.
Ovale infections, some parasites can remain dormant in the liver for several months up to about 4 years after a person is bitten by an infected mosquito.
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