Battling Malaria - It's Causes and Cures
By Ms CiCi
Malaria is is transmitted by the bite of a mosquito found in tropical and sub tropical areas including parts of the Americas, Asia and Africa. Malaria is and caused by protozoan parasites of the genus Plasmodium, a parasite that spends part of its life cycle inside the mosquito, and is passed along to humans by mosquito bites.
Malaria parasites are transmitted from one person to another by the female anopheline mosquito. The malaria parasite must grow in the mosquito for a week or more before infection can be passed to another person. These parasites infect red blood cell(haemo protozoa).
Some strains of mosquito born malaria are worse than others. Up to 500 million people experience a bout of malaria each year, suffering anemia, fever, chills, headache, muscle aches and weakness, vomiting, coughing, diarrhoea and abdominal pain, followed by internal bleeding, kidney and liver failure and can result in coma and death. People with malaria can die if they do not receive proper medical treatment.
Malaria is commonly associated with poverty, because poorer people are more likely to become infected. However, Malaria is also a cause of poverty because it hinders economic development. Malaria is also becoming a problem for wild populations, such as African penguins. African penguins are particularly vulnerable to the malaria parasite because they are considered to be and are classed as a "naive" population.
People can get malaria if they come into contact with infected blood. People who donate blood will fill out a registration form and the questions on this form will determine if the donor is at risk for passing on live mosquito born parasites to someone else. If they are, the donor will not be allowed to give their blood, usually for another month.
However, people who have had 'malignant tertian fever' or 'black water fever' will never be a blood donor as those parasites will always remain in one's blood, though very minutely, with the body's natural defenses not allowing the parasite to grow and infect the carrier.
However, if that carrier becomes very ill, their body defenses will naturally become low, giving rise to the possibility of the parasite to grow and manifest itself once again in another bad case of malaria. Malaria is caused by protozoan parasites of the genus plasmodium.
Malaria is caused by a parasite that spends part of its life cycle inside the mosquito, and is passed along to humans by mosquito bites. The idea behind the project is to make mosquitoes resistant to the parasite by eliminating genes required in the mosquito for the parasite to live. Malaria is caused by infection with a mosquito-borne parasite of the group that is able to infect red blood cells (haemo protozoa).
There are four species of malaria that infect man: Plasmodium falciparum, so called 'malignant tertian fever', is the most serious disease that is responsible for about 2-million deaths per year, predominantly in young children in sub Saharan Africa, Plasmodium vivax, a relapsing form of the disease, Plasmodium malariae, and Plasmodium ovale.
Infected female Anopheles mosquitoes carry Plasmodium sporozoites in their salivary glands. If they bite a person, which they usually do starting at dusk and during the night, the sporozoites enter the person's body via the mosquito's saliva, migrate to the liver where they multiply within hepatic liver cells. Infection with Plasmodium falciparum kills approximately 1-2% of those who come down with it.
Malaria is notorious for mimicking a wide variety of different illnesses, particularly when it occurs in its milder forms. Malaria is responsible for as many as half a billion cases of illness each year. When contracted by pregnant women, malaria kills up to 200,000 new-born babies each year.
Malaria is a severe disease that can be fatal, but can be treated with antimalarial drugs. Malaria treatment is not always straightforward and may be complex. Contacting the CDC for the latest treatment guidelines and drug regimens is advised. Early treatment is required to avoid severe illness or death.
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