I was recently reminded of a patient who had a high fever and body aches with no other symptoms such as sore throat, sniffles, nausea, vomiting or diarrhea, no painful urination, no cough etc. Both she and her husband had returned from an overseas trip and within a few days had come down with these symptoms.

Fortunately, she looked well and a check of her ears, nose and throat, heart , lungs and abdomen were normal except for a mild elevation in her heart rate – to be expected with a fever.

She had no other underlying chronic illness. I figured she most likely had a viral process going on that would resolve within a week since both she and her husband had the same symptoms. None-the-less, I ordered a complete blood count which didn’t show any elevation in her white blood count. I left a message for her on her cell phone about the test results and figured she would get better by the end of the week.

When she called the office several days later to say that she still had a high fever and body aches in the absence of any other symptoms, I grew concerned – especially because she had been overseas in India. A peripheral blood smear cinched the diagnosis: malaria. Because it was a milder form of malaria, treatment consisted of antibiotics and quinine for 7 days.

If you’ll be traveling in a country that has malaria, speak to your provider about medications that you can take to prevent malaria.

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