Falciparum Malaria: This is another name for Malaria which is a disease that is parasitic and that consists of fevers that are high, bone shaking chills, symptoms that are flu-like as well as anemia.

Malaria is spread by a parasite which is passed from one person to another person thru a bite of an Anopheles mosquito that is infected. After being bitten, the parasites – called sporozoites at this point – are transported thru the blood system to the liver. In the liver, they developed and are then released in another form known as the merozoites. These parasites then enter the blood system and begin infecting the blood cells that are red.

Inside the red blood cells theses parasites begin to multiply and this causes these red blood cells to breakdown and open up within 48 to 72 hours, infecting even more blood cells. The symptoms the patients first notice occur during this time or ten days to 4 weeks following infection, while symptoms can develop as early as 8 days or even as long as a year following infection.

Most of the symptoms are caused by: merozoites being released into the blood system; anemia from the devastation of the red blood cells; and large quantities of free hemoglobin on the loose in the circulation after each red blood cell breaks open.

Malaria may be transferred to an unborn child from its mother as well as by transfusions of blood. Malaria is carried by mosquitoes in climates that are temperate, but the parasites normally vanish over the winter.

This disease is considered a foremost problem of health in most of the tropics as well as the subtropics. An estimate by the CDC is that there are 300 to 500 million malaria cases every year and more than 1 million patients die from it. It presents a major hazard for individuals who are traveling to warmer climates.