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Malaria

Malaria · Malárie

What it is

A parasite delivered by mosquitoes; still kills ~600 000 people a year, mostly children.

Symptoms & signs

  • Cyclical fever and rigors
  • headache
  • sweats
  • vomiting
  • jaundice
  • confusion and coma in cerebral malaria

🚩 Get help if…

  • call 112 / 911 now Confusion, drowsiness or a seizure after travel to a malaria area
  • call 112 / 911 now Breathing fast, dark urine or yellow skin with fever
  • call 112 / 911 now Fever in pregnancy or in a child after a malaria area
  • see a doctor soon Any fever within a year of visiting a malaria area — test the same day

Where it strikes

Medical treatment

  • Artemisinin combination therapy
  • IV artesunate for severe cases
  • primaquine for liver stages
  • rapid diagnostic testing
  • R21/Matrix-M and RTS,S vaccines for children — WHO-recommended (2021, 2023) and rolling out in Africa; RTS,S has a positive EMA opinion

Natural & lifestyle

  • Insecticide-treated nets
  • repellents
  • chemoprophylaxis when travelling
  • remove standing water

Emerging & experimental

  • Monoclonal antibodies
  • gene-drive mosquitoes

Alternative, off-label & anecdotal

Approaches used outside the guidelines, with what their supporters report and what testing has found so far.

  • Quinine — from cinchona bark, a traditional remedy that became a drug; still used where artesunate is unavailable trials support
  • Artemisia annua tea — the plant the drug came from; tea doses are unreliable and WHO advises against it anecdotal / traditional
  • Homeopathic malaria prevention — travellers relying on it have died not confirmed in trials

ICD codes