Question: At what speed does the malaria start to affect you.

Sophie Adjalley answered on 16 Jun 2020: last edited 16 Jun 2020 11:08 am

Hi GabrielaR, it takes about 10 to 14-days for the symptoms to show from the time of infection. The parasites that are transmitted via a mosquito bite first travel through the skin to the liver, where they invade hepatic cells and multiply. From there, they travel to the blood stream and it is only once the parasites infect red blood cells, that the symptoms (that begin like a flu-like illness) occur. The parasites enter these cells, develop in them, and ultimately burst them upon exit to find new ones to infect. This is this cycle that the parasites undergo in the red blood cells that cause the symptoms that range from fever, anemia, joint pain to vomiting and even coma in severe cases. So most treatments target that stage of the parasite infectious cycle, although some aim to block parasites from developing in the liver, which would prevent any symptom from occurring further downstream.