 Hi, I'm Dr. Neha Mishra. I'm here to talk about malaria today. It takes only one mosquito bite from anophilus mosquito to get malaria. So let me tell you little bit more about this mosquito-borne disease. Anyone who is exposed to mosquitoes or mosquito bites is at risk of developing malaria. It is usually seen in tropical regions. There are endemic and hyperendemic regions where malaria is more common. Patients who are travelling from non-endemic areas to endemic areas are at higher risk to develop malaria. Also, the children who belong to the age group of 6 months to 5 years of age group are also at higher risk of developing malaria because they do not have maternal antibodies anymore to protect them from the disease. Again, the female who are pregnant are also at higher risk of developing severe diseases and also they are at higher risk of developing anemia due to the malaria disease. Hence, they can also lead to low birth weight babies which can lead to morbidity in these cases. So it can be deleterious for mother and the child both. Another group of patients who are at higher risk of developing severe malaria complications are people with immunocompromised diseases. Also, the children who have poor nutrition are at risk of developing severe malaria. Most of the patients with malaria present with fever. Usually the fevers are high grade and they are associated with chills and rigors. Patient with severe malaria or complicated malaria can present with other symptoms also. For example, patient's sensorium may get altered, patient can develop liver or kidney dysfunction, patient can also have circulatory failure. What I mean by circulatory failure is they can go in shop, their pulse rate or blood pressure can become really low and they can require ventilatory support in such cases. So, severe malaria can present with very type of symptoms. We have to be watchful about the diagnosis because the people who are living in tropical regions as much as they are exposed to malaria, they are also exposed to other tropical fevers. Hence distinguishing between the two and making the correct diagnosis is very much essential for the right type of treatment. People who are presenting with classical clinical features like fever, associated with chills and rigors and they are travelling from endemic areas, they should be prime suspect for malaria. We have to confirm our diagnosis by doing certain testings like malaria antigen. We can also do peripheral thick and thin smears, understand which species is causing it and then decide the treatment. Malaria should be treated as soon as it is diagnosed and once the diagnosis is confirmed there is no reason to delay the treatment further. We have to treat it as soon as we diagnose it. From the olden days we have been using chloroquine as a drug of choice for malaria. There has been reported cases of chloroquine resistant malaria from certain areas. Hence WHO has moved on to combination therapy for malaria patients. In this combination therapy two different drugs from different groups are used and utilized for treating such patients. We also have injectable antimalarial drugs for such patients. These injectable drugs are utilized for severe malaria cases and pregnant ladies. Because in them we want less toxic drugs and we want better absorption of drugs. Hence once the patient is stable enough to take oral drugs the drugs can be switched from IV therapy to oral therapy. Patients who are vomiting also cannot receive antimalarial drugs orally which is the commonest combination used. So such patients should also be offered IV therapy till they are able to take oral therapy properly. So the right answer is probably no because malaria can actually lead to severe complications and even fatality. If not treated properly. So anybody who is treated inadequately for malaria or wrongly for malaria or for whatever reason the diagnosis is delayed the patient can land up to complications. Sometimes it can even land the patient up into ICU. So we should be very careful and not treated by ourselves. Seek a healthcare practitioner's advice as soon as possible if you are suspecting it.