How does malaria affect liver?

How does malaria affect liver?

Malaria spreads when a mosquito becomes infected with the disease after biting an infected person, and the infected mosquito then bites a noninfected person. The malaria parasites enter that person’s bloodstream and travel to the liver. When the parasites mature, they leave the liver and infect red blood cells.

Does malaria target liver?

After infecting humans via mosquito bite transmission, malaria parasites move to the liver, replicate within liver cells, and then move to the blood to infect red blood cells.

Does malaria damage liver cells?

The researchers found that the parasites kill the liver cell they occupy and make it detach from its neighbours. The infected cells then squeeze through tiny gaps in the walls of blood vessels in the liver.

Why does the liver enlarge in malaria?

In malarial hepatomegaly, sinusoidal dilatation is the most important factor contributing to the enlargement of the organ. 2. Reticulo-endothelial hyperplasia and hypertrophy provide a minor contribution only.

Can malaria cause long term liver damage?

The World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines reports that severe malaria can cause multi-organ failure and liver damage, with jaundice being relatively common [16].

Can malaria cause liver cirrhosis?

Histopathological changes in the liver range from hepatocyte necrosis, granulomatous lesions, Kupffer cell hyperplasia, malarial pigmentation, cholestasis, monocyte infiltrations to malarial nodules [7,10,11]. These complications can contribute significantly to liver failure and other systemic complications [9,12,13].

Can malaria cause fatty liver?

Liver changes in severe malaria often include hyperplastic Kupffer cells [4,5,16-18], fatty change [16,17], portal tract inflammation [17], cholestasis [16,17], liver cell necrosis [4,16,18], sequestration of PRBCs and the deposition of haemozoin pigment [4,5,16,18].

Can malaria enlarge the liver?

IL-12p70 and IL-10 were both linearly related to liver enlargement, with the children who presented with substantial hepatomegaly having significantly higher levels of both cytokines than children who had no hepatomegaly.

Does malaria cause elevated liver enzymes?

Liver involvement in malaria is common in patients of severe malaria and may manifest as jaundice, hepatomegaly, and elevated liver enzymes like aspartate and alanine transaminases [11].

Can malaria cause cirrhosis of the liver?

How is malaria of the liver treated?

For example, primaquine and tafenoquine, 8-aminoquinolines that target malaria liver stages, are the only drugs approved to treat P. vivax hypnozoites — the long-lived, dormant, hepatic forms that cause malaria relapses.

Can malaria cause elevated liver enzymes?

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