Had Stomach Upset And Vomiting. Diagnosed As Having Vivax Malaria In Liver. Not Having Fever And Confused. What Could It Be?

Posted on Thu, 22 Aug 2013

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Thu, 22 Aug 2013 Answered on

Wed, 18 Sep 2013 Last reviewed on

Question : I had upset stomach and some vomitting. Dr says, after some blood tests that i am having VIVEX maleria in my liver. wants arteether inj for 6 days, 150 gm. he is too busy to explain how can i have maleria in liver!! and that too without any fever! and he wants those inj to start now! can u help with my confusion???

Answered by Dr. Dr. Prasad J (5 hours later)

Brief Answer:
Dormant stage of Plasmodium vivax

Detailed Answer:
Hi,

Plasmodium vivax has two stages in its life cycle within human - erythrocytic stage where the parasite multiples to cause the typical symptoms and extraerythrocytic stage where dormant parasites get trapped in liver cells waiting to re-enter erythrocytic stage.

In simple words, the P. vivax found in liver cells is in dormant hypnozoite stage. If no vivax is found in blood cells, you are not expected to have fever. It is difficult to kill those dormant hypnozoite, but injectable antimalarial drugs gives the best shot to kill the dormant parasite within your liver.

Hope this clears your confusion. Let me know if you need clarifications.

Regards

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar