Malaria - Life Cycle, Symptoms, Treatment And Control
travelers infected deaths mosquito
Malaria has been described as the world's greatest public health problem. It is caused by one of several strains of the Plasmodium protozoan, a one-celled parasite that is transmitted by the bite of the Anopheles mosquito. Hundreds of millions of persons are struck by malaria each year, resulting in 1–3 million deaths annually, primarily in children under five-years-old in sub-Saharan Africa, where 90% of malaria deaths occur. Malaria has essentially been eradicated in North America, Europe, and Russia, although infected travelers and immigrants can reintroduce the disease if bitten by an infected mosquito. Malaria is on the increase worldwide and presents a major burden for tropical communities and travelers, particularly in areas where the parasite has evolved resistance to the drugs used to treat it.
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Alphonse Laveran, a French Army physician working in North Africa in the 1880s, was the first to observe malarial parasites in human blood. Their mode of transmission was not understood, however, until Ronald Ross, a British medical officer in India, found the organisms within the bodies of Anopheles mosquitoes. Malaria is caused by four species of parasitic protozoa: Plasmodium vivax, P. ovale, P…
Malaria is easily misdiagnosed because it resembles many other diseases. Early symptoms include malaise, fatigue, headache, nausea and vomiting, and muscular aches; after several hours, the characteristic high fever and chills occur. The body's principal defenses are fever and filtration of infected red blood cells in the spleen. Neither of these mechanisms, however, is completely effective…
A connection between swampy areas and fever was made centuries ago, and the word malaria reflects the popular belief that the illness was caused by bad air (Italian, mal aria). During the sixteenth century, people discovered that the disease could be treated using quinine, a compound derived from the bark of the tropical Cinchona tree. No vaccine for malaria has yet been developed, although prelim…
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