Please read the clinical scenario, and then answer the question that follow to become familiar with the traditional NCLEX question format.
You are an adult medical-surgical nurse on a medical trip with your hospital to Indonesia. While there, you meet a woman named Nani, a 35-year-old woman who was previously healthy, although she looks like she has aged well into her 50s. She has come to you because her village doctors have told her she has malaria. She is breathing heavily, very sweaty with a high fever, achy, and shaking. Her eyes are slightly yellow in color, but you are unsure if this is related or unrelated to her current illness. She has been sick for a little over a week, and has gone through several cycles of feeling better for a couple days before the fever, sweating, and chills broke out again. She tells you that the village doctors tried to treat her with a combination of a mosquito paste with a root you have never heard of, but they were apparently unsuccessful. You have a portable serological testing kit, and you confirm the diagnosis with a drop of blood from Nani’s finger.
-What is the cause of the cyclical nature of Nani's symptoms?

Question

Please read the clinical scenario, and then answer the question that follow to become familiar with the traditional NCLEX question format.
 You are an adult medical-surgical nurse on a medical trip with your hospital to Indonesia. While there, you meet a woman named Nani, a 35-year-old woman who was previously healthy, although she looks like she has aged well into her 50s. She has come to you because her village doctors have told her she has malaria. She is breathing heavily, very sweaty with a high fever, achy, and shaking. Her eyes are slightly yellow in color, but you are unsure if this is related or unrelated to her current illness. She has been sick for a little over a week, and has gone through several cycles of feeling better for a couple days before the fever, sweating, and chills broke out again. She tells you that the village doctors tried to treat her with a combination of a mosquito paste with a root you have never heard of, but they were apparently unsuccessful. You have a portable serological testing kit, and you confirm the diagnosis with a drop of blood from Nani’s finger. 
-What is the cause of the cyclical nature of Nani's symptoms?

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The cyclical nature of Nani's symptoms is likely due to the synchronous rupture of red blood cells (RBCs) caused by the cycle of Plasmodium falciparum infection. As the parasites reproduce within the RBCs, they cause the cells to burst and release more parasites into the bloodstream. This results in the characteristic cycle of fever followed by feeling better for a short period of time before the fever returns. The other options do not offer a plausible explanation for the cyclical nature of Nani's symptoms.

Please Read the Clinical Scenario, and Then Answer the Question