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Why is spleen noted in malaria?
The spleen is a complex organ that is perfectly adapted to selectively filtering and destroying senescent red blood cells (RBCs), infectious microorganisms and Plasmodium-parasitized RBCs. Infection by malaria is the most common cause of spleen rupture and splenomegaly, albeit variably, a landmark of malaria infection.
Why does the spleen become enlarged during malaria?
Spleen becomes enlarged during malaria because of filtering out of excessive destroyed RBC after the hemolysis and occurs not only during malaria, during many infectious/non infecious diseases following with the RBC hemolysis.
Which organ is most affected by malaria spleen?
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.
What does the spleen do to fight infection?
The spleen is a small organ inside your left rib cage, just above the stomach. It's part of the lymphatic system (which is part of the immune system). The spleen stores and filters blood and makes white blood cells that protect you from infection.
What is the function of spleen?
The spleen has some important functions: it fights invading germs in the blood (the spleen contains infection-fighting white blood cells) it controls the level of blood cells (white blood cells, red blood cells and platelets) it filters the blood and removes any old or damaged red blood cells.
Can you live without a spleen?
You can be active without a spleen, but you're at increased risk of becoming sick or getting serious infections. This risk is highest shortly after surgery. People without a spleen may also have a harder time recovering from an illness or injury.
Can malaria damage your spleen?
The spleen plays an important role in malaria, producing antibodies against the malarial parasite. The splenic complications of Plasmodium infection are hematoma, rupture, hypersplenism, ectopic spleen, torsion, cyst, and infarction. Splenomegaly occurs earlier compared to other complications, such as rupture [3,6].
Does malaria affect liver or spleen?
Plasmodium falciparum malaria causes clinical jaundice in 2.5-5.3% of cases in endemic areas[2, 3]. The liver is an important organ involved during the hepatic stage of the malaria parasite's life cycle, where malaria sporozoites develop into merozoites.
What organ in your body does malaria affect most?
Beyond the brain, the lungs are the most affected organ in severe malaria. Lung dysfunction occurs in 20% of all cases of adults with falciparum [3] or vivax [27] severe malaria.
What are 3 diseases that affect the spleen?
Disorders of the spleen include splenomegaly, hypersplenism and splenic rupture.
How does the spleen help the immune system?
Your spleen also plays an important part in your immune system, which helps your body fight infection. Just as it detects faulty red blood cells, your spleen can pick out any unwelcome micro-organisms (like bacteria or viruses) in your blood.
What bacteria Does the spleen fight?
The spleen fights certain types of bacteria The most common bacteria that cause infections in people without a functioning spleen function are pneumococcus, meningococcus and Haemophilus influenzae type B.
Can malaria damage your spleen?
The spleen plays an important role in malaria, producing antibodies against the malarial parasite. The splenic complications of Plasmodium infection are hematoma, rupture, hypersplenism, ectopic spleen, torsion, cyst, and infarction. Splenomegaly occurs earlier compared to other complications, such as rupture [3,6].
Which gland gets enlarged in malaria?
SpleenSo, the correct answer is 'Spleen'.
Is splenomegaly a complication of malaria?
Chronic malaria is usually defined as a long-term malarial infection in semi-immune subjects, usually without fever or other acute symptoms. The untreated infection may evolve to hyper-reactive malarial splenomegaly (HMS), a life-threatening complication.