Pidgin Video: Why does Malaria Come Back after Treatment: Recurrent Malaria Explained

When malaria comes back after treatment, it is called Recurrent Malaria. There are two ways this can happen. First the parasite may remain in blood in low numbers without causing symptoms,  sometimes even for years, before the patients develops a full blown out relapse, very often with cerebral malaria. Doctors may refer to this as “recrudescence”. This happens mostly with malaria caused by the parasite Plasmodium falciparum.

Secondly, malaria parasites may remain dormant in the liver for a long time after ineffective treatment, but once the liver stages change into blood stages, full blown out malaria reoccurs. This type is common with malaria caused by Plasmodium ovale and Plasmodium vivax.

Seek a doctor if you’re suspecting recurrent malaria and treatment will be administered depending on the type of malaria.  Do not self-medicate. Malaria  is a major health burden in sub-sahara Africa. Alone in 2015, 212 million nes cases of malaria and 429 000 malaria deaths were recorded world-wide – 90% alone in the Africa.

In this video we address contributing factors to recurrent malaria in Pidgin English, a lingua franca spoken in West Africa and the Caribbean.