10 Causes of Spleen Pain
Cause #5: Malaria
If you live in a country where malaria is endemic, or you plan to travel to such a place, you should consider learning about malaria and its symptoms and signs. Infections caused by malarial parasites can induce a variable splenic response, mostly characterized by splenomegaly. The spleen is a part of the body’s lymphatic system; thus in the presence of malarial parasites, it works overtime to produce cells that can fight off the infection. Also, it is in charge of filtering great quantities of red blood cells that are either parasitized or destroyed by the parasite during its life cycle. This increase in function (and resulting congestion), is responsible for the increase in splenic size and abdominal pain reported in patients with malaria.
Hyper-reactive malarial splenomegaly can also cause massive splenomegaly and splenic pain in patients from endemic countries. It is caused by an abnormal immune response to the parasites, due to chronic exposure to the infection.
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