Malaria is a parasitical disease, caused by Plasmodium that infects red-blood cells. The symptoms of Malaria are characteristic cycles of chills, pain, sweating and fever.  Â
The parasites were first identified in 1880 and it was in 1880 that it was discovered by R. Ross that the disease is transmitted by mosquitoes. There are four types of malaria, and the life-threatening kind is known as Plasmodium Falciparum.
Jaundice Malaria refers to the severe kind of Malaria, when your red blood cells are destroyed in large measure and you may face yellowing of the skin, eyes and all the symptoms connected with jaundice can manifest, along with malarial symptoms like pain, chills, fever and sweating.
This is a condition when your liver and kidney can be affected. This needs immediate treatment as it can develop into the other form called as Cerebral Malaria, which can be fatal at times.
The parasite has a complex life-cycle, involving two hosts, mosquitoes and humans. Humans get this disease from the bites of infected Anopheles mosquito that injects the malarial bugs into your blood. They travel through blood to liver where they mature and infect the red blood cells in human bodies.
Even in the cells, they develop till a mosquito bites and draws blood from the infected human being, after which the parasite settle in the mosquito, invading its salivary glands. Again, when the mosquito bites a human being, the cycle is complete.
Symptoms of malaria include fever, muscular aches, headache and chills. Some patients have nausea, cough and diarrhea. There is a kind of cycle of chills-fever-sweating, which repeats often. This may follow with yellowing of the skin, as well as eyes and jaundice because the cells in the blood and liver have been destroyed.
When you are suffering from the harsher kind P. falciparum , you can have bleeding problems, liver or kidneys can get affected, you can get problems with your nervous system, and get into to coma and even die due to infection or the related complications.
At this stage, Cerebral Malaria can develop resulting in seizures, coma and if not treated immediately, it can prove fatal.