A person who is infected with the malaria parasite can appear normal and have no signs of illness. However when disease develops the common signs and symptoms of the disease include:

Simple/Uncomplicated Malaria
  • Fever
  • Chills
  • Headache
  • Sweats
  • Fatigue
  • Nausea & vomiting
  • Body aches

It should be remembered that: These signs and symptoms are not unique to malaria and other bacterial and viral diseases can show similar symptoms

Severe/Complicated malaria

Severe/Complicated malaria is life threatening. In people with low immunity simple malaria can develop into severe malaria within 24 hours if not treated. This includes children under five years and people from areas where malaria is not common. Severe malaria is generally defined as acute malaria with high levels of parasitemia (>5 percent) and/or major signs of organ dysfunction.

The commonly developed conditions in severe malaria are:
  • Cerebral malaria (coma due to malaria),
  • Severe anemia (less than 8g/dl hemoglobin)
  • Respiratory distress (in relation to metabolic acidosis)
All these are life threatening with significant case fatality rates

Common danger signs of severe/complicated malaria are:

  • Confusion or behaviour change
  • Unconsciousness
  • Abnormal breathing pattern
  • Persistent or continuous vomiting
  • Severe diarrhoea
  • Bleeding
  • Dark urine
  • Convulsions
  • Delayed capillary refill
  • Intense pallor
  • Very high fever (more than 38ᵒC)
In additions to the signs given, look out for these signs in children under five years of age:
  • Fever
  • Laziness/tiredness, unable to play, inactive
  • Failure to feed or breast feed
  • Vomiting
  • Palm pallor
  • Behaviour change, convulsions, unconsciousness


Last modified: Wednesday, 10 June 2020, 12:19 PM