As the monsoon season comes, so do concerns about infectious diseases like malaria and dengue fever, which are spread by mosquito bites. However, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, it can be hard to tell what virus a person is infected with because the symptoms are often the same. Malaria and dengue fever cases increase during the monsoon season and can be deadly. As the symptoms of these diseases overlap, here is how you can differentiate between the three:

Common symptoms of COVID-19, Dengue, and Malaria 

COVID-19, Malaria, and Dengue, all are under respiratory illnesses that cause inflammation. They can cause fever, chills, cough, cold, sore throat, headache, tiredness, weakness, trouble breathing, and myalgia, among other symptoms.

When a person is infected with dengue fever, they may have severe headaches, joint and muscle pain, nausea, stomach discomfort, and diarrhea. Patients with dengue fever may have respiratory difficulty, nose and mouth bleeding, and a drop in blood pressure, which can lead to shock.

If someone is infected with malaria, he may have fever, headaches, and chills. If these initial symptoms go untreated for 24 hours, the disease then progresses to severe illness and can also result in death. Children infected with malaria could suffer from severe anemia, respiratory distress in relation to metabolic acidosis, cerebral malaria.

How to differentiate between these three?

- When infected with COVID-19, people suffer from loss of smell and taste. 

- In COVID-19, the person sees signs of inflammation in the upper respiratory tract, such as cough, change in voice, irritation in the throat. These symptoms are not common in Dengue and malaria. 

- In COVID-19, gastrointestinal symptoms are not common. 

- Breathlessness, chest pain, or breathing issues are not common in Dengue and Malaria.

- Dengue and malaria often start with headaches or weakness, which is not common when a person is exposed to COVID-19. 

- While COVID-19 symptoms show up as early as 2-3 days after contraction, dengue and malaria have longer onset periods, as late as 22-25 days.

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