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Malaria Prevention And Treatment
To reduce the risk of drug resistance, drugs for malaria are often given in combination. This helps kill off the parasite by targeting it in more than one way.
It's important to take the full course of your drugs as prescribed, and to acquire them from a reputable source. (2)
Common side effects from various malaria drugs include:
In the United States, guidelines for treating both uncomplicated and severe malaria include the following drugs:
Artemisinin Combination Therapies (ACTs) This group of combination drugs, which includes artemether and lumefantrine (Coartem), is key to the current treatment of malaria caused by P. Falciparum, the deadliest form.
Artemisinin is derived from the "sweet wormwood" plant Artemisia annua, but synthetic variants of this chemical are often used instead.
Chloroquine and Hydroxychloroquine (Plaquenil) Chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine are the first-line treatment for uncomplicated malaria without known drug resistance from Central America west of the Panama Canal, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, and most of the Middle East.
Quinine (Qualaquin) This drug is used to treat chloroquine-resistant malaria. Quinine is derived from the cinchona tree of South America.
Primaquine This drug is given to people with malaria caused by P. Vivax or P. Ovale to kill immature parasites in their liver. Primaquine is not an option for people with G6PD deficiency.
Mefloquine This drug has been shown to cause potentially severe psychiatric symptoms in rare cases, and is contraindicated in those with a previous history of seizures or a recent history of psychiatric disorders.
Atovarone and Proguanil This drug combination can cause stomach upset and should be taken with food or milk.
Doxycycline, Tetracyline, and Clindamycin Doxycycline, tretracycline, and clindamycin are all antibiotics that are usually given for bacterial infections, but they also help disrupt the reproduction of malaria parasites. (1,3)
Additional drugs approved to treat severe malaria in the United States include:
Artesunate This is a first-line medication given by IV to people with severe malaria.
Additional reporting by Quinn Phillips.
What Is Malaria? Know Its Types, Prevention And Treatment
Monsoon season brings with it several diseases, including vector-borne diseases. Amongst vector-borne, malaria is the most common disease that affects people. Malaria is caused due to the bite of the female mosquito (Anopheles). According to World Health Organization's – World malaria report 2019, India represents 3% of the global malaria burden.
Malaria can cause mild illness in some patients and life-threatening disease in others. Various parasite species can cause the infection, and the four most common ones are Plasmodium Ovale, Plasmodium Malaria, Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium vivax. However, the ones that cause a significant threat are Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium vivax.
Plasmodium falciparumThis plasmodium parasite is the most lethal as it causes most infections and the majority of deaths worldwide. The patients infected by this parasite experience symptoms like abdominal pain, muscle ache, joint pain, vomiting, fatigue, dizziness, nausea, fever, and headache. The infection leads to even some neurological symptoms as it harms the brain and the central nervous system, and the patients might suffer from cerebral malaria.
In a few cases, if the disease affects the brain, some might have seizures or loss of consciousness. One can even feel changes in the levels of consciousness, paralysis, and convulsions. It can also cause renal failure and lung involvement.
Plasmodium VivaxThis specie is known to cause 60 per cent of infections in the country. While it is not as deadly as Plasmodium falciparum, it can cause serious illness. The infected patient will show symptoms like when affected with flu and other symptoms like diarrhoea, fever chills and fatigue.
How To Prevent Malaria?The only way for one to prevent themselves from getting infected is by taking precautions. However, suppose a person observes any changes in their body, especially the symptoms like high fever, body chills, sweating, shivering, severe body ache, diarrhoea, fast heartbeat, and mental confusion. In that case, they should immediately consult a doctor. Also, causing delay might lead to undesired complications like kidneys can also be affected in some cases and an abnormally large spleen.
If the disease is detected at an early stage, then the patient can be given treated at home. Malaria is treated with oral drugs, injection, or intravenously (into the veins), depending on the severity of the disease. Also, depending on the parasite causing the infection, a person might be treated as an outpatient over a few days or in the hospital with IV medicine. Patients may need fluids, blood transfusions, and oxygen if they have difficulty breathing. Malaria can usually be cured in about two weeks if diagnosed early and treated in time.
While malaria is a severe illness and can cause serious health problems, it can easily be avoided by taking adequate preventive steps.
(Inputs by Dr Anita Mathew, Infectious Disease Specialist, Fortis Hospital Mulund)
'Prevention Is Best Treatment Against Dengue And Malaria'
Kanpur: BJP Member of Parliament Satyadev Pachauri on Tuesday flagged off 19 big and 72 small fogging machines during the inauguration of a special communicable diseases campaign. On the occasion, he said, "Prevention and protection against communicable diseases is the best treatment. For this, cleanliness should be taken care of and only fresh and clean food and water should be consumed."He said that to prevent mosquito-borne diseases like dengue and malaria, water should not be allowed to stagnate. He also took oath for the control and prevention of communicable diseases along with the joint director, Chief Medical Officer (CMO), officers and doctors of all 10 departments.Joint director, GK Maheshwari said that this campaign would run till October 31 and Dastak campaign would be conducted from October 16 to October 31. "For successful operation of the campaign, teams of 10 departments including health department, municipal corporation, panchayati raj department had been deployed. The teams would go door to door and make people aware about prevention from diseases." Chief medical officer, Alok Ranjan on this occasion said that it was also responsibility of public to cooperate in the campaign, to be alert and aware. He said that dengue mosquitoes bite only during the day and to protect against mosquito bites wear clothes that cover the entire body. Use anti-mosquito cream and mosquito net while sleeping, he added.RP Mishra ACMO and nodal officer communicable diseases stated that special communicable disease control and dastak campaign is an ambitious programme of the Chief Minister.Additional chief medical officer, RV Singh said that along with district administration and various departments, public representatives will also cooperate in making this campaign successful."To prevent these diseases, anti-larva spraying, fogging, sanitation, cleanliness etc. Would be done. Along with testing and treatment, necessary medicines would also be provided," he said.We also published the following articles recently
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