Malaria fever and Unani Treatment

Malaria is a parasitic infection transmitted by the bite of an infected female Anopheles mosquito. Malaria is caused by protozoan parasites of the genus Plasmodium. The disease causes fever, chills, headache and muscle aches. It is caused by a tiny parasite called Plasmodium. The parasite grows in the liver of a person for a few days and then enters the bloodstream where it invades the red blood cells. The disease spreads from a sick person to a healthy one by the bite of an infected female anopheles mosquito. She draws a small quantity of blood containing the parasites when she bites a person who has malaria. These parasites then pass through several stages of development within the mosquito's body, and finally find their way to its salivary glands. There they lie in wait for an opportunity to enter the bloodstream of the next person the mosquito bites. The malaria-carrying mosquito breeds in stagnant water.

Types and Symptoms of Malaria

There are three main types of malaria, classified according to the parasite which causes it. They are tertian fever, quartan fever and malignant tertian malaria. The most common symptom of all types of malaria is high fever, which may occur every day, on alternate days, or every fourth day. The fever is accompanied by

chills, headache, shivering, and pain in the limbs. The temperature comes down after some time with profuse sweating.

Fever occurs about every 48 hours but this periodicity is often masked because the stages are not always synchronous. This periodicity is termed tertian because of fever on the first day, no fever on the second and then a return of fever on the third day. Plasmodium falciparum lives in a temperature of at least 20ºC so is found mainly in warmer parts of the world.

Prevention

Prevention of malaria is as important as curing it. Some prevention tips for malaria are given below:

• Keeping yourself covered with mosquito nets at all hours of the day or night or using mosquito repellents , so as to prevent yourself from mosquito bites is very important aspect of preventing malaria.

• Accumulation of water in ponds, stagnant water pools and places where excreta is ejected, should be sprayed over with anti malarial chemical substances so as to abandon the opportunity for the malarial parasites to multiply.

• You should strictly avoid taking exposed, stale, dirty or unhygienic foods as they may contain parasites.

• Boil drinking water, disinfect entire house, clean the coolers every two or three weeks or spray kerosene oil on cooler water.

• Vaccines against P. vivax are being developed and include a number of blood-stage candidates, a transmission-blocking candidate and a liver-stage candidate - which could reach clinical trial in 3 to 5 years. A number of vaccine candidates have also been identified for P. falciparum. Unfortunately, no malaria vaccine is currently available for widespread use.

Unani Treatment:

1. Gul Banafsa 7 in numb,Maveez munaqa 9 in numb, Bekh kasini 7 gm, Badyan 7 gm, Gauzan 7 gm. make decoction and mix with Khameera Banafsa 40 gm or Turanjabeen 40 gm. use this formulation two times daily before meal.

2. Habbe Bukhar 2 hab three times.

3. Barg Tulsi 7 gm, Kali mirch 7 in numb, Dar filfil 1 in numb, Nabat safaid 10 gm, grind all in normal water and use 3-4 times.

4.  Karanwa, afsanteen, chiraita, gilo each same in quantity and make powder, use this powder 6 gm thrice daily with Sharbat Banafsa 20 ml.