Malaria is a mosquito-borne disease caused by the protozoan parasite. People affected by malaria often experience fever, chills and flu-like illness. If left untreated, the person will develop serious complications and die. Every year, between 350 and 500 million cases of malaria occur worldwide and more than a million people die as young children in sub-Saharan Africa. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why violent video games should not be banned"? Get the original essay The person suffering from malaria in the graph had a core body temperature of 36°C between noon and 4 p.m. on May 4. The person would experience the cold phase. The cold phase begins with shaking chills, it can last from 15 minutes to an hour. The symptoms that the malaria-affected person in the graph above would experience between 8 p.m. and midnight on May 4 would be heavy sweating and fever gradually decreasing over a period of 2 to 4 hours. Between 8 p.m. and midnight, the person's core body temperature drops by almost 40°C to less than the normal range of 37°C. The drop in core temperature is caused by sweating, it is the body's "cooling system" that brings down the high temperature. The time interval between successive temperature peak intervals is approximately 48 hours. Plasmodium in the erythrocyte cycle is the cause of excessive temperature spikes throughout malaria. The life cycle of Plasmodium vivax goes through several stages, erythrocyte schizogony, merozoites and trophozoites in the liver. During the erythrocyte schizogony stage, parasites multiply asexually to form merozoites that infect red blood cells. Ring-stage trophozoites develop into schizonts, which red blood cells rupture and release merozoites. The capture of red blood cells is the cause of high temperature spikes in the body. The rupture of erythrocytes is synchronized and coincides with the peak temperature during the febrile cycle. Keep in mind: this is just a sample. Get a personalized article from our expert writers now. Get a Personalized Essay There are three stages in the attack and they are the “cold stage”, “hot stage” and “sweating stage”. The cold stage is a 15 to 60 minute stage characterized by shivering and a feeling of cold. Next comes the hot phase which lasts about 2 to 6 hours and includes a fever sometimes reaching 41°C and includes red, dry skin, often headaches, nausea and vomiting. Finally comes the sweating phase which lasts approximately 2 to 4 hours, this is how the fever drops quickly and the patient sweats. The cause of these "cold", "hot" and "sweating" stages is the virus removing red blood cells throughout the body, this occurs in the parasite's erythrocyte cycle. When the temperature drops, the person with malaria sweats profusely. Malaria fever occurs when red blood cell schizonts burst, releasing merozoites and hemozoin (malaria pigment) into the blood plasma. This hemozoin is believed to be toxic and therefore causes a high fever accompanied by chills. The bursting of schizonts tends to be synchronous since they all burst at the same time..