Malaria and chickenpox are caused by a virus

However, this partial immunity can disappear if you move to a place where you're no longer frequently exposed to the parasite. Malaria can be fatal, particularly when caused by the plasmodium species common in Africa. Some varieties of the malaria parasite, which typically cause milder forms of the disease, can persist for years and cause relapses. If you live in or are traveling to an area where malaria is common, take steps to avoid mosquito bites.

Mosquitoes are most active between dusk and dawn. To protect yourself from mosquito bites, you should:. If you'll be traveling to a location where malaria is common, talk to your doctor a few months ahead of time about whether you should take drugs before, during and after your trip to help protect you from malaria parasites. In general, the drugs taken to prevent malaria are the same drugs used to treat the disease.

What drug you take depends on where and how long you are traveling and your own health. Mayo Clinic does not endorse companies or products. Advertising revenue supports our not-for-profit mission.

Check out these best-sellers and special offers on books and newsletters from Mayo Clinic Press. This content does not have an English version. This content does not have an Arabic version. Overview Malaria is a disease caused by a parasite. Request an Appointment at Mayo Clinic. Complications are not as common in otherwise healthy people who get chickenpox but can happen. Calamine lotion and colloidal oatmeal baths can help relieve an itchy chickenpox rash. Keep fingernails trimmed short to help prevent skin infections caused by scratching blisters.

For fever, you can use non-aspirin medication, such as acetaminophen. After you recover from chickenpox, the virus that causes this disease stays in your body. Later in life, the virus can reactive and cause shingles. If you have shingles, you can spread the virus to people who have never had chickenpox or never got the chickenpox vaccine. These people will develop chickenpox, not shingles. Danny A. Milner, Jr. Author information Copyright and License information Disclaimer.

Harvard T. Correspondence: Email: gro. This article has been cited by other articles in PMC. Open in a separate window. Figure 1. Footnotes Editors: Dyann F. Plasmodium vivax : Clinical spectrum, risk factors and pathogenesis.

Adv Parasitol 80 : — Plasmodium knowlesi : The emerging zoonotic malaria parasite. Acta Tropica : — The role of asymptomatic P. Drug Resist Updat 16 : 1—9.

Of parasites and men. Infect Genet Evol 20 : 61— The transcriptome of the intraerythrocytic developmental cycle of Plasmodium falciparum. PLoS Biol 1 : E5. Expression profiling of the schizont and trophozoite stages of Plasmodium falciparum with a long-oligonucleotide microarray.

Genome Biol 4 : R9. Do malaria parasites manipulate mosquitoes? Trends Parasitol 28 : — Host response to cytoadherence in Plasmodium falciparum. Biochem Soc Trans 36 : — Management of severe malaria in the intensive care unit. Crit Care Clin 29 : — Understanding the role of inflammatory cytokines in malaria and related diseases. Travel Med Infect Dis 6 : 67— Incidence of malaria and efficacy of combination antimalarial therapies over 4 years in an urban cohort of Ugandan children. Plasmodium malariae : Parasite and disease.

Clin Microbiol Rev 20 : — On cytoadhesion of Plasmodium vivax : Raison d'etre? Mem Inst Oswaldo Cruz : 79— On the pathogenesis of Plasmodium vivax malaria: Perspectives from the Brazilian field. Int J Parasitol 42 : — Severe malaria—A case of fatal Plasmodium knowlesi infection with post-mortem findings: A case report.

Malaria J 9 : Translational regulation during stage transitions in malaria parasites. Ann NY Acad Sci : 1—9. Distinct physiological states of Plasmodium falciparum in malaria-infected patients. Nature : — Renal failure in malaria. J Vector Borne Dis 45 : 83— Immune response to a malaria infection: Properties of a mathematical model.

J Biol Dyn 2 : — Protective immunity against malaria after vaccination. Parasite Immunol 36 : — Shape-shifting gametocytes: How and why does P. Immune response to pre-erythrocytic stages of malaria parasites. Curr Mol Med 6 : — The neuropathology of fatal cerebral malaria in Malawian children. Am J Pathol : — Is skeletal muscle mitochondrial dysfunction a cause or an indirect consequence of insulin resistance in humans?

Diabetes Metab 35 : — Variant antigen gene expression in malaria. Cell Microbiol 8 : — Modulation of malaria virulence by determinants of Plasmodium falciparum erythrocyte membrane protein-1 display.

Curr Opin Hematol 13 : — T cell-derived IL and its impact on the regulation of host responses during malaria. Parasite virulence, co-infections and cytokine balance in malaria. Pathog Glob Health : — Cerebral malaria pathogenesis: Revisiting parasite and host contributions. Future Microbiol 7 : — Interferons and interferon regulatory factors in malaria. Mediators Inflamm : Cell biology and immunology of malaria. Immunol Rev : — A simple score to predict the outcome of severe malaria in adults.

Clin Infect Dis 50 : — The fluid management of adults with severe malaria. Crit Care 18 : To avoid infecting others in the waiting room, call ahead for an appointment and mention that you think you or your child may have chickenpox. Chickenpox infection is caused by the varicella-zoster virus. It can spread through direct contact with the rash.

It can also spread when a person with the chickenpox coughs or sneezes and you inhale the air droplets. Your risk of becoming infected with the varicella-zoster virus that causes chickenpox is higher if you haven't already had chickenpox or if you haven't had the chickenpox vaccine. It's especially important for people who work in child care or school settings to be vaccinated.

Most people who have had chickenpox or have been vaccinated against chickenpox are immune to chickenpox. A few people can get chickenpox more than once, but this is rare. If you've been vaccinated and still get chickenpox, symptoms are often milder, with fewer blisters and mild or no fever. Chickenpox is normally a mild disease.

But it can be serious and can lead to complications including:. Low birth weight and limb abnormalities are more common among babies born to women who are infected with chickenpox early in their pregnancy. When a mother is infected with chickenpox in the week before birth or within a couple of days after giving birth, her baby has a higher risk of developing a serious, life-threatening infection.

If you're pregnant and not immune to chickenpox, talk to your doctor about the risks to you and your unborn child. If you've had chickenpox, you're at risk of a complication called shingles. The varicella-zoster virus remains in your nerve cells after the skin infection has healed. Many years later, the virus can reactivate and resurface as shingles — a painful cluster of short-lived blisters.

The virus is more likely to reappear in older adults and people who have weakened immune systems. The pain of shingles can last long after the blisters disappear. This is called postherpetic neuralgia and can be severe. The shingles vaccine Shingrix is recommended for adults who have had chickenpox.