What are the major symptoms of malaria and how does the person acts after being afflicted with it?
Answers
the person infected with malarial parasite does not readily show the symptoms. Malarial parasite Plasmodium vivax (most common in tropical regions) first infects the liver cells and develop into cryotozoites and are released in blood by bursting of hepatic cells. It is then released in blood and infects RBCs. In undergoes asexual reproduction and release as merozoite by bursting RBC cells, releasing toxin called haemozoin. This when the symptoms are seen.
It occurs in three phases.
1. first the cold phase where the person shivers severely and has a cold body. It lasts for 20-60 mins.
2. Then there is a severe rise in body temperature( upto 41 degree C). It lasts for 2-6 hrs.
3. lastly, it is the sweating phase, where the cold cools down and temperature becomes normal.
This cycle is repeated in every 48 hrs for Plasmodium vivax. But it varies in case of other species of malarial parasite.
some of the clinical features due to continuous RBC destruction and hepatic cell bursting include- Severe anemia, splenomegaly, hepatomegaly and fibril paroxysm .