Malaria is a disease related to millions of deaths around the world, precisely in Africa. This paper discusses malaria which is caused by parasites transmitted by mosquitoes. This report gathers medical and scientific information and gives general clarification about the disease from journals, articles, and websites. This research shows an overview of the disease, the types of parasites, that include Plasmodium falciparum, Plasmodium ovale, Plasmodium malariae, Plasmodium vivax, and Plasmodium knowlesi. It also shows the disease 's symptoms that vary from serious symptoms like kidney failure to less serious ones like body aches. Further, it explains the infectious cycle of the disease which includes the human liver stage, the human blood …show more content…
However, about 54% of these deaths occur in Africa (1)(3). This research paper explains the history of malaria, the types of parasites, symptoms and causes, stages of the disease, malaria therapies, and the potential side effects.
2. Overview of Malaria:
Malaria is a disease that has been known for more than 4000 years as swamp fever disease which greatly infects the human populations and human history (4). The origin of the word malaria is Italian, a reduction of mala aria, bad air, and that goes back to the belief that the disease was caused by toxic and poisonous air in the swampy regions. According to some medical terms, the first use of the word “malaria” was by Francisco Torti, an Italian physician (1658-1741) (5). Moreover, the discovery of the malaria parasite goes back to Charles Louis Alphonse Laveran, who was a French surgeon in 1880 (4).
3. Types of parasites:
There are about five types of parasites plasmodia that cause human malaria. Some of these parasites can be found in tropical environments, subtropical environments, or in both environments. The most common plasmodia are Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium vivax. Plasmodium falciparum, which is the most lethal type, can be found in tropical and subtropical areas, and it is responsible for most malaria deaths
Malaria is a disease characterized by fever and flu like illness that according to the CDC “if not treated can lead to jaundice, kidney failure, seizures, mental confusion, coma, and death” (CDC p.2. There are four types of malaria: Plasmodium falciparum, P. vivax, P. ovale, and P. malariae with the most common type being plasmodium falciparum. (CDC p.1) ).. This disease can only be transmitted by an interaction of blood as the parasite lives in the red blood cells of the infected host individual. This can be due to blood transfusions, sharing of syringes or by its common vector, the Anopheles mosquito.Because of its vector being a mosquito malaria is common in areas with warm temperatures and causes the most damage in poor developing
Malaria has been in existence for thousands of years. Many historical records show that it has affected human civilization greatly by plaguing and causing mass death. The earliest record can be traced back to 2700 BC in China (Cox, 2002). It has been long associated with swamps and insects for hundreds of years but often believed to be the air from swamps causing the plague. The term malaria rooted from two Italian words ‘mala’ and ‘aria’ which literally means bad air. Humanity did not know the true nature of the long thought disease until 1894 when a Scottish physician, Sir Ronald Ross, discovered that it was actually the parasite in mosquito that is causing the malaria.
Malaria has been a major life-threatening disease for thousands of years, and continues to threaten millions of lives around the world. It infects approximately 219 million people each year, mostly poor women and children. What is striking about malaria is the fact that it has the worse effect on those with the least ability to fight the disease. The Republic of Cuba believes that malaria prevention, treatment, and research efforts must be accelerated to eliminate the burden of this disease across Africa, Asia, the Americas, and any country or territory at risk of malaria transmissions.
Malaria, on the other hand, was far off more deadly then Yellow fever for it consisted of parasites (Malaria). An engineer once quoted “If we could control malaria, I would be less anxious about other diseases. If we cannot control malaria, our mortality is going to very heavy” (American Canal Construction). Consequently, these infections developed in mosquito salivary glands as well and reproduce in the liver (Malaria). Above all, this incubation period could last for months to a year at a time (Malaria). When the parasites leave the liver they reenter the bloodstream where they are able to infect red blood cells to reproduce once again until the cell bursts (Malaria). As a result, it caused anemia and jaundice from the lack of blood cells (Malaria). Other symptoms include seizures, confusion, coma and death (Malaria).
Brian, G, Y., Greenwood, D, A., Fidock, Dennis, E, K., Stefan, H, I. Kappe, P., Alonso, L., Frank, H and Collins, P (2008) “Malaria progress and prospects for eradication.” Journal Clinical Investiment. 118: 1266-1276.
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.
Malaria is a disease that affects nearly 600 million people and causes more than a million deaths a year, the most coming from children under five. This disease is regularly found in more than 100 countries around the world and affects 40% of the world’s population. It is most commonly transmitted by an infected Anopheles mosquito. The most deadly form of malaria is known as Plasmodium falciparum because almost all deaths from malaria are caused by this specific one. Some of the symptoms that are affiliated with this strand of malaria are the destruction of red blood cells along with complications with the kidneys, lungs, and brain. In more serious cases, it can cause permanent neurological effects and even death. As the Nobel Assembly said at the announcement of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, “Diseases caused by parasites have plagued humankind for a millennium and constitute a major global health problem. In particular, parasitic diseases affect the world’s poorest populations and represent a huge barrier to improving human health and wellbeing”. Youyou Tu, one of the winners of the prize, discovered Artemisinin, “a drug that has significantly reduced the mortality rates for patients suffering from malaria by killing the malaria parasites an early stage of their development.”
Malaria has been a huge problem among many developing nations over the past century. The amount of people in the entire world that die from malaria each year is between 700,000 and 2.7 million. 75% of these deaths are African children (Med. Letter on CDC & FDA, 2001). 90% of the malaria cases in the world are located in Sub-Saharan Africa. Once again, the majority of these deaths are of children (Randerson, 2002). The numbers speak for themselves. Malaria is a huge problem and needs to be dealt with immediately.
Malaria or other similar diseases like malaria has been recognized and encountered by humans for more than 4,000 years. Malaria is caused by the genus Plasmodium parasites, which enter the human body and are transmitted to people through the bite of a mosquito infected with the parasite (Q&A, Malaria). Once the parasite enters the human body, the parasites multiply in the liver and then infect red blood cells. The malaria parasite was first discovered on November 6, 1880, by a French army surgeon named Charles Louis Al phonse Laveran. While stationed in
(Fairhurst RM, Wellems TE. Plasmodium species (Malaria). In: Mandell GL, Bennett JE, Dolin R, eds. Principles and Practice of Infectious Diseases . 7th ed. Philadelphia, Pa: Elsevier Churchill Livingstone; 2009: p. 3071-3072)
"About Malaria." Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. CDC, n.d. Web. 10 Dec. 2015. .
Malaria is a disease that has wrought history since the dawn of time itself. It has conquered some of the mightiest warlords in history including Tutankhamen, Alexander the Great, Attila the Hun and Genghis Khan. The earliest records of malaria symptoms date back to 2700 BCE, first described in the Nei Ching, an ancient Chinese medical script. The Chinese described the prominent symptoms of malaria, discussing the connection between recurring fevers and enlarged spleens. In 1550 BCE the Ebers Papyrus, an ancient Egyptian medical script, mentioned patients suffering from fevers, shivering, vomiting, convulsions and also enlarged spleens. In 600 BCE records of malaria-like fevers rampant in Mesopotamia were found documented on cuneiform tablets. By 400 BCE the symptoms of malaria became widely recognizable in Ancient Greece, where malaria was held responsible for huge population declines in large cities and states. Hippocrates, traditionally regarded as the father of modern medicine, documented the main symptoms of malaria and made extensive notes in the literature of the time. He was also the first to recognise the relationship between occurrences of fevers and close proximity to stagnant waters. The Romans also discovered this connection between fevers and swampy marshes and notably pioneered the first preventative efforts against malaria by draining these swamps. Thus from the medieval Italian language the term ‘malaria’ was coined: mala aria –
Malaria is a detriment to the country of Africa and after much research I have found a plethora of information on the malaria epidemic on Africa and how truly devastating it is. Throughout this research paper I will touch on everything related to malaria in Africa including economic to personal problems that may relate to the state of the country. In the first paragraph I will go into depth on when this outbreak began and the whereabouts of its origin. Also If anyone is to blame for this horrid plague like virus that has spread throughout many poor countries life africa. Then I will dive into more in depth issues connecting malaria to the conditions in Africa.
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)