Malaria
Malaria is a mosquito-borne disease that is transmitted by the bite of Anopheles mosquitoes. The symptoms of human malaria typically include fever, , vomiting, and headaches. In severe cases, the disease can cause , , coma, or death. Symptoms usually begin 10 to 15 days after being bitten by an infected Anopheles mosquito. If not properly treated, people may have recurrences of the disease months later. Those who survive an develop partial immunity, being susceptible to reinfection although with milder symptoms. This partial resistance disappears over months to years if the person has no continuing exposure to malaria.
Underlined words are explained — tap any of them.
Symptoms — what it feels like
- ·Mild malaria: fever, chills, vomiting, headache, diarrhoea. Severe malaria: , , coma
Causes — why it happens
- ·Plasmodium transmitted by Anopheles mosquitoes
How it's found
- ·Examination of the blood, detection tests
Prevention
- ·Mosquito nets, insect repellent, mosquito control, prophylactic medication
Complications
- ·, coma
The sections below are general education drawn from public guidelines (NHS, Mayo, CPIC, WHO, ICMR). They are not individually reviewed by a clinician and are not medical advice — always talk to a doctor about your own health.
Genes that change how certain drugs work — and that differ in South Asians. This is education, not a dosing tool; genotype-guided prescribing is a clinician decision.
Some people are born with red blood cells that can't handle certain 'stressful' medicines. Give those drugs and the red cells burst, causing sudden . A simple blood test tells the doctor whether a drug like an anti-malaria pill is safe for that person.
South Asian signal: G6PD deficiency is common across India: an all-India systematic review found an overall ~1.9% prevalence (range 0.8-6.3%), but tribal/vulnerable groups run far higher - ~7.7% overall in tribal communities and up to ~27% in some groups. The G6PD Mediterranean (563C>T) variant, a severe (Class II) variant, is the commonest deficient allele in India (~60% of deficient cases), so many Indian deficients are the high-risk severe type.
Prescriber note: Screen for G6PD status before prescribing primaquine/tafenoquine (radical cure of vivax malaria), dapsone, or rasburicase; rasburicase is contraindicated in G6PD deficiency. Because the severe Mediterranean variant predominates in India, do not assume mild African-type deficiency. CPIC advises that in G6PD-deficient individuals, drugs with haemolytic potential (e.g. rasburicase - formally contraindicated; primaquine, dapsone, and other listed oxidants) should be avoided or used only with explicit risk-benefit justification and monitoring, and that higher-risk ancestries be screened before such drugs.
Not a dosing tool. Genotype-guided prescribing is a clinician decision; genotyping access in India is limited.