Symptoms of malaria include fever and flu-like illness, including shaking chills, headache, muscle aches, and tiredness. Nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea may also occur. Infection with one type of malaria, P. falciparum, if not promptly treated, may cause kidney failure, seizures, mental confusion, coma, and death. For most people, symptoms begin 10 days to 4 weeks after infection, although a person may feel ill as early as 8 days or up to 1 year later. When these parasites come out of hibernation and begin invading red blood cells, the person will become sick.
Malaria is diagnosed by looking for the parasites in a drop of blood.
Blood will be put onto a microscope slide and stained so that the parasites will be visible under a microscope. Any traveler who becomes ill with a fever or flu-like illness while traveling and up to 1 year after returning home should immediately seek professional medical care. You should tell your health care provider that you have been traveling in a malaria-risk area. Persons living in, and travelers to, any area of the world where malaria is transmitted may become infected. Malaria can be cured with prescription drugs.