Dengue and Malaria can be easily held as two of the most serious public health issues in India. In Delhi, this season witnesses the most patients of the two diseases. One thing that almost everyone knows is that both are mosquito-borne diseases. But are the two same?
They have many symptoms in common, but they aren’t same. You need to be careful because the wrong diagnosis can lead to wrong treatment and cause more harm to the patient than the disease itself. So, let’s look at the basic difference between the two:
- Dengue is caused by the four types of dengue viruses spread by Aedes mosquitoes. Malaria is caused by a protozoan parasite.
- Dengue can be spread from person to person but Malaria is caused only by mosquito bites.
- In Dengue, the fever stays for as long as seven days, in Malaria, the duration is shorter.
- The procedure for detecting the two diseases is also different. Malaria is detected through microscopic visuals while Dengue requires immune chemical investigations.
- There are anti-malarial drugs available for the treatment of Malaria. On the other hand, there is still no effective drug available for the treatment of Dengue. Medicines are prescribed to control the symptoms.
So, basically, everything differs from source and detection to treatment. Therefore, it is important that any patient with common symptoms of both be taken to a specialized hospital for the best treatment.