An Controversial Control Methods For Malaria

A positive consequence of DDT is its effectiveness, even in the face of pesticide resistance in the anopheles mosquito. The eradication of malaria in the United States and the health of US Soldiers while fighting in World War II can be greatly credited to the use of DDT

Malaria infection is caused by parasitic protozoan plasmodium. Several species of malaria parasites exist but the most fatal known is plasmodium falciparum. It enters the liver and replicates itself by getting into the red blood cell and ripping its way out when fully matured. It was once thought that the US military got close to completely eradicating the vector mosquito through DDT (dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane) and the parasitic plasmodium with vaccines until they discovered that both are capable of mutating and gained the ability to be resistant to any chemicals scientists could produce (Horizon, 2005).

The use of pesticides is an important decision that thousands of communities face each year. Nobody likes dealing with mosquitos and the diseases they bring so using chemicals and pesticides is an option but with other consequences. Mosquitos carry West Nile Virus that affects the city of Genericville every year with 50 cases projected this year in the city and two fatalities as well. On the other hand, the chemicals proposed for controlling the mosquito population has its own risks. The pesticide Malathion is also dangerous to people if they come in contact with it before it degrades. The potential for citizens of the city being exposed is almost a certainty

Malaria (also called biduoterian fever, blackwater fever, falciparum malaria, plasmodium, Quartan malaria, and tertian malaria) is one of the most infectious and most common diseases in the world. This serious, sometimes-fatal disease is caused by a parasite that is carried by a certain species of mosquito called the Anopheles. It claims more lives every year than any other transmissible disease except tuberculosis. Every year, five hundred million adults and children (around nine percent of the world’s population) contract the disease and of these, one hundred million people die. Children are more susceptible to the disease than adults, and in Africa, where ninety percent of the world’s cases occur and where eighty percent of the cases

Background - Malaria is a water borne disease. It is spread by a parasite-carrying mosquito. It kills many people and reduces a country 's capacity to develop. There are different strategies to combat malaria. Around half the population is at risk of malaria and this disease is active in 106 counties across Africa, Asian and the Americas (see source 3). the global annual mortality from malaria is between 1.5 - 3 million deaths, or between 4000 and 8000 each day. Developing countries are most vulnerable to Malaria and as shown on source 2 Malaria has been spread across many various other countries including in Europe, but these countries have eradicated Malaria.

First off DDT has the ability to kill insects that carry diseases such as malaria. There is

The use of DDT in the United States is banned, although it is still used in many other countries. DDT is still used in other places to try and control the mosquitoes that spread malaria around. India is the only country that still chooses to use DDT in large quantities today, whereas Belize and Bolivia, among others, have dropped the use of DDT out of fear of losing foreign subsidies. When the worldwide availability of DDT declined, poor countries did not have the ability to afford it. Due to this, 15 African countries declared that they would start producing the chemical to fight against malaria carrying

With all this focus on the development of new drugs to combat malaria, an old effective method has been forgotten. The chemical DDT (dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane) has proven effective in reducing malaria cases. Popularly used as a pesticide in the middle of the twentieth century, killed the mosquito population that was responsible for malaria related deaths. The number of people in India that contracted malaria in the 1940’s was approximately 75 million a year with 800,000 dying as a result. With the introduction of DDT, the number of cases dropped to 50,000 by 1961. Similar cases have been documented in Sri Lanka, where the number of cases dropped in 18 years from 3 million to 29 after the introduction of DDT (“DDT Delirium,” 2002). The difference in numbers is staggering.

Located in the Kingdom Protozoan Malaria is a parasitic mosquito born organism passed to humans by several species of the genus Anopheles and is responsible for about 220 million infections every year and 600,000- 1,200,000 deaths every year. The developing world is disproportionately affected which had led to some unique changes when dealing with infections such as drugs needing to be cheap, administered orally and stable at relatively high temperatures. However in keeping with the old saying prevention is better than cure many methods have been proposed and tested to control the mosquito vector that transmits malaria as supposed to treating the infect after it occurs.

According to the U.S. Center for Disease Control, “every year more than 1.5 million people around the globe lose their lives due to mosquito-borne diseases” (2012). A mosquito is an insect which lives around the world, especially in tropical and subtropical countries. The mosquito has both positive and negative effects. As part of positive effects, larvae of mosquitoes are food for fish and dragonflies, and when mosquitoes consume nectar, they help the flowers to pollinate. On the other hand, mosquitoes make people annoyed and cause many diseases. World Health Organization (2016) explains that the mosquito is the greatest menace which causes many diseases and they are responsible for more than million deaths and cases every year. There are many diseases that caused by mosquitoes, but the diseases are commonly found and get people’s attention because they have many negative effects on people such as malaria, dengue fever, and Zika virus disease.

About 3.3 billion people, that is about half of the world’s population are at risk of contracting malaria (figure 1). Every year there are 250 million cases of malaria, and nearly 1 million deaths. That amounts to 2,732 deaths per day. Out of those million people that die every year, 800,000 of them are African children under the age of 5. To control malaria three actions need to be taken: insecticides need to be used to decrease the vector population, people have to be educated as to how to prevent the vector from reproducing, and anti-malarial drugs need to be distributed. To understand the vector and what the vector is, scientists had to first discover what the parasite was and how it worked. It was not until the year 1880 that French Physician Charles Laveran discovered that Malaria was caused by a protozoan in the genus Plasmodium (Malaria, 2013)

Malaria is one of the most common life-threatening diseases found throughout the tropics and subtropics, especially in the sub-Saharan countries in Africa. In 2014, over 40% of global malaria deaths were found in two countries: Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (IBTimesUK). According to the World Health Organization, more than 90% of Nigeria’s population is at risk for contracting malaria and there are an estimated 100 million malaria cases with over 300,000 deaths per year, which are about 100,000 more deaths than from HIV/AIDS. Malaria is caused by parasites that are spread to humans through an infected mosquito’s bite. Luckily, malaria is preventable and curable. The mortality rates have fallen by 47% globally since

The case study I will be using is called ‘Battling malaria in India’. In this assignment I will discuss and compare why and how people in India have different experiences of the same disease because they are either advantaged communities or disadvantaged tribal communities.

The current interventions in place are vector control and insecticide treated mosquito nets. Vector control involves the reduction of vector habitats through the use of chemical larvicides and adulticides and of biological control agents. This method is hindered however, by a weak program capacity, as well as by the absence of well-defined indicators and program targets along with a poor understanding of efficacy and cost-effectiveness of control measures particularly in terms of reducing transmission (World Health Organization). Not only this, but pesticides can also be extremely harmful to the environment and can end up in the water supply due to runoff, leading to a further potential harm for humans and animals. An important factor in vector control is that all insecticides run the risk of mosquitos becoming resistant. The Malaria Journal states that, mosquito nets often go unused due to the heat associated with sleeping under them and perceived mosquito density. Nets are usually treated with insecticide and mosquitos are beginning to become resistant to the particular pesticide used. Nets, though efficient if used, must be replaced every three to four years. There are other interventions in place, such as public awareness campaigns.

Malaria is one of the most severe public health problems worldwide. It is a leading cause of death and disease in many developing countries, where young children and pregnant women are the groups most affected. According to the World Health Organization’s World Malaria Report 2013 and the Global Malaria Action Plan , 3.4 billion people (half the world’s population) live in areas at risk of malaria transmission in 106 countries and territories. In 2012, malaria caused an estimated 207 million clinical