how does malaria actually kill?

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how does malaria actually kill?

In: Biology

2 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

It infects the red blood cells, which can rupture them leading to anemia and blood loss and blockages in the blood vessels that can causes strokes.

Anonymous 0 Comments

Malaria attacks your red blood cells, making them an odd shape and ultimately causing them to break down.

This leads to several end results. Anaemia is the most obvious. Without your red blood cells, you can’t carry oxygen to your cells, and you die from inadequate oxygen perfusion.

You can also get organ failure. Kidney or liver failure is pretty common in malaria, before you reach the level of anaemia that straight-up kills you.

Another option is for those defective red blood cells to form a clot which travels to your lungs, causing pulmonary embolisms. This makes you more or less drown in your own lungs.

And there is a type of malaria called cerebral malaria, which is when those misshapen red blood cells block the small vessels in your brain. This results in brain swelling, coma, seizures, brain damage, and death.