Malaria Treatment FAQ:
Why does a patient with malaria have a very high fever one day, a normal body temperature the next day, a very high fever the day after, etc…?
Why does a patient with malaria have a very high fever one day, a normal body temperature the next day, a very high fever the day after, etc…?
please site where you got your sources from!
omggg emma! its gretttchen! hahahahhaha
i didnt know what else to do so i resorted to yahoo answers. wooooo!:)
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
There are 3 types of malaria (tertian, quartan and malignant tertian) depending on the parasite causing it. The intermittent or undulant fevers don’t necessarily occur every other day. They can occur daily, every other day (tertian) or every 3-4 days (quartan). I believe the intermittent fever has to do with the life cycle of the specific parasite involved. Sporozoites are the infective form of the parasite (it doesn’t matter which specific parasite, this applies to all malaria parasites). This is the form transmitted by the female mosquito. Sporozoites take up residence in liver cells and multiply. The results of this multiplication are called merozoites and these leave the liver, enter the blood and attack red blood cells. The merozoites attached themselves to red cell receptors and the red cells endocytose (engulf & absorb) the merozoites in the same way they would endocytose nutrients but in this case, it initiates infection. This infection causes fever. The fever subsides when the merozoites develop into female and male gametocytes. They reproduce and form zygotes that become sporozoites and the cycle begins again.
Sorry for the long explanation and I hope it wasn’t hard to follow. I simplified it as much as I could without losing the integrity of it.
Tweety bird’s explanation was good. To put it more briefly, paroxysms (due to rupture and release of the parasite and metabolic products into the system), happen every 48-72 hours depending on the species and this is why you have the spikes. See more on malaria here:
Hahahah are you in Mr. Leinwohl’s class, too!?