Malaria

• Malaria Overview
• Malaria Causes
• Malaria Symptoms
• When to Seek Medical Care
• Exams and Tests
• Malaria Treatment
• Self-Care at Home
• Medications
  • Learn more about medications like chloroquine (Aralen), mefloquine (Lariam), quinidine (Quinidex), and quinine (Quinerva) on RxList.com.
• Next Steps
• Follow-up
• Prevention
• Outlook
• Synonyms and Keywords
• Authors and Editors

Malaria Overview

Malaria is an infection of the blood that is carried from person to person by mosquitoes. The disease has been recognized for thousands of years and once was found almost everywhere except in the most northern areas of the world. Malaria has been wiped out in North America, Western Europe, and Russia. It remains a serious problem in much of the tropical and subtropical world, however.

Millions of people continue to be infected every year, and probably up to 1 million of them die. Although the United States is malaria-free, hundreds of cases a year are still reported here. Most of these are people who acquired the disease overseas.