Malaria

What is Malaria?

Early symptoms are non-specific and can easily be mistaken for those of influenza. Rapid diagnosis and early treatment are important, particularly for falciparum malaria, which is fatal in up to 20 percent of infected people and can kill within 24 hours. Symptoms can begin a month or more after the infecting mosquito bite. Drugs taken for prevention are not 100 percent effective. In Sub-Saharan Africa the important strain of malaria is Plasmodium falciparum, which can cause fatal infections.