Though we already have an idea of what malaria is all about it is needful to make an introduction here. Malaria is a life-threatening disease that is typically transmitted through the bite of an infected Anopheles mosquito. Common symptoms of malaria include: shaking chills that can range from moderate to severe high fever, profuse sweating, headache, nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, anaemia, muscle pain, convulsions, coma and bloody stools.

 

All these and many more are the symptoms some of us encounter every day and yet we do nothing. As subtle and normal as these symptoms seem, they could lead to death! Research has revealed that malaria, if not properly treated can result to life threatening diseases such as Pulmonary Edema, which refers to catarrh, cough and other nasal congestions, or failure of the kidneys, liver, or spleen, anaemia, low blood sugar and worst of all, cerebral malaria.

 

Due to the importance of healthy living in the society, New Telegraph Health sought the opinions of medical expert on cerebral malaria, a type of malaria that isn’t of common knowledge. Speaking to the New Telegraph Health, A Professor of Community Health and a Consultant Public Health Physician in the College of Medicine University of Lagos (CMUL) Bayo Onajole, a public health consultant said, “Cerebral malaria is an escalated form of normal malaria.

 

It is usually called severe or complicated malaria. Unlike simple or uncomplicated malaria where it’s only fever that you have, cerebral malaria is the kind of malaria that affects the brain. It actually compresses the brain tissue which is not hard and that causes severe damage or could even leads to death.” He also made it clear that since the brain controls movement, awareness and some other activities in the body, cerebral malaria also affects those activities the brain is in charge of. Onajole said cerebral malaria has been the cause of death in Nigeria especially among children under five years old.

 

He also said that it affects those who are coming newly from outside the county whose level of immunity to malaria is very low. Speaking on how cerebral malaria can be treated and prevented, he said that early detection is key to treatment. “Usually just like treating malaria, you can treat cerebral malaria if it is discovered early. Doctors tend to administer more of quinine in treating cerebral malaria because quinine can easily pass through the blood in the brain membrane and penetrate there. The normal process of preventing normal malaria is the same for preventing cerebral malaria.” Speaking in similar vein, a Medical Officer, Dr. Olusegun Ojetola also revealed another shocking information about cerebral malaria. According to him, eye pain could be a symptom of cerebral malaria, though he gave other symptoms to look out for.

 

“Common symptoms of cerebral malaria are: disorientation, obstruction of consciousness level, affected patients becoming so weak such that if you try to wake them up, they refuse to wake up and would seem to be dead. They could also have convulsions, that is, seizures, some have tremor. They could suddenly start to shake in most parts of their body while there’s rigidity in some people. Furthermore, they could also go into coma.

 

Ojetola also said that cerebral malaria when not accurately treated, could lead to permanent blindness or even hearing impairment. He revealed that though it occurs all over the world, it is more common in the tropics like Africa and India, adding that it could affect any age group though it is most common in children. Also contributing, an Associate :Professor and Consultant Medical Parasitologist, Wellington Oyibo encouraged Nigerians to first of all ensure that a test is conducted on them to know if what is affecting them is truly, malaria. In his words, “people should demand for a malaria test first before treatment, it could be a Urine Malaria Test (UMT), Microscopy or Blood diagnostics.”

 

He said after the test has been conducted, the Arthemisinin Combination Therapies (ACTs) recommended by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as the most efficacious in the treatment and management of malaria, should be administered on the patient. He further revealed that abusing the use of anti-malaria drugs could lead to resistance to those drugs. Are you feeling feverish, sweating profusely, or you feel weak constantly? Don’t settle for those concoctions, neither should you settle for those cheap anti-malaria medicines some of which are even expired. Expert recommends that you should go for a test today. Health is wealth.