Symptoms And Treatment Of Malaria

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 is a very contagious parasite transmitted through mosquitoes to humans. Those at risk are individuals living in areas conducive to the breeding of mosquitoes, especially those that allow the mosquitoes to complete their growth cycle. Everyone is at risk

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).

It is caused by a parasite that infects certain mosquitos that feed on humans. People infected with malaria usually suffer from high fevers, shaking chills, achy muscles, headaches, tiredness, and flu-like illness. It may also cause jaundice and anemia. The malaria parasite is found in the red blood cells of a person which means it can be transmitted through blood transfusions, organ transplants, or the shared use of needles syringes contaminated with blood. Malaria is not contagious; it cannot be transmitted from one person to another. Some parasites can remain dormant in the infected person’s body for up to four years after they are bitten. When the parasite comes out of hibernation and begins to invade the red blood cells, the person will become sick.

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

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.

Also, human population movement from higher transmission areas jeopardizes reintroduction and resurgence in malaria-free regions, and in addition has undermined elimination works in the past. For that reason, it is important to understand the patterns of parasite dispersal in order to target control by pinpointing regions where the imported infections originate from and where they play a part in transmission.

Symptoms of malaria includes headache, fatigue, muscle aches, and abdominal discomfort followed by fever. Sometimes malaria may also cause diarrhea, anemia, nausea, vomiting, enlarged lever and jaundice. Failure to prompt treatment might cause mental confusion, kidney failure and death. Hypoglycameia and severe anemia is quite common in children. In pregnant women, malaria leads to intrauterine growth retardation, low birth weight, and indirect mortality from abortion, as well as increases infant mortality.

There are five main types of Malaria are P. falciparum (the most fatal and common), P. vivax, P. ovale, P. malariae and P. knowlesi (“What is Malaria”, 2016). This parasitic infection is characterized upon infection by signs and symptoms such as fever, chills, headache, myalgia, fatigue, nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea, anemia and even jaundice (Singh et al., 2016).If not promptly treated, the infection can become severe and may cause kidney failure, seizures, mental confusion, coma, and death (Singh et al., 2016). Malaria is transmitted by the mosquito bite of a female Anopheles misquoted during a blood meal. Once this bite occurred there are two separate life cycle that proceed because Malaria is transmitted through previous blood meal taken from an infected person, this is why the lifecycle of Malaria in two different host come from. In the first blood meal and infected female Anopheles bites a human and in the process expels sporozoites into the human which travel directly to the liver and consequently infecting liver cells (Hahn & Pottinger, 2016).. Within the liver cells the sporozoites develop into schizonts which eventually mature into merozoites. Eventually the proliferation of merozoites causes the liver cells to rupture and release merzoites into the blood stream. These meroziotes then attack red blood cells within the body,

According to Malariasymptons.org, once a person is infected with malaria or the parasite plasmodium falciparum, they will experience fever-like sickness. The symptoms include “ fever, sweats, shaking chills, headaches, muscle aches, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea (malariasymptoms.org).” If malaria is not treated right away, it can lead to serious health issues for the person who is infected. It may eventually lead to kidney failure, seizures, mental confusion, coma, bleeding due to blood clots and even death (malaria symptoms.org).

“3.4 billion People live in areas at risk of malaria transmission (“About Malaria” 2015). While Malaria isn’t as common as it used to be, there is still a severe threat associated with it in third world countries. Symptoms can be hidden for up to 15 days, which can make diagnosing and curing the disease hard. In countries where Malaria is very uncommon, symptoms can be mistaken for viruses such as the flu, or a variety of infections.

Malaria is concentrated throughout equatorial regions (except ocean) i.e. countries in the vicinity of the equator. It is mostly concentrated in the African continent, although the northern and southern regions of Africa are not affected by malaria as it is too cold. All areas that are concentrated with Malaria are tropical areas. Other areas such as mountains and deserts are sparsely affected by Malaria. Another area that has a concentrated amount of Malaria is the Philippines. So temperature is a very important part of the environments.

Malaria is one of the most popular infectious diseases and a major public health problem worldwide. Billions of people are at risk of infection in 109 countries. Annually, there are an estimated 250 million cases of malaria leading to about one million deaths. Malaria is a disease that is caused by parasites in the red blood cells of a human body, and is usually transmitted by the bite of certain species of mosquitos.

Figure 1: Malaria endemic areas around the world. Areas where malaria transmission occurs are in red, places that are at risk and malaria transmission occurs infrequently are in yellow, and places in grey is where there is no malaria present (Malaria, 2010).

Malaria is one of the ten most common, yet deadly diseases in the world. It is a parasitic disease spread by the bite of Anopheles mosquito, which is active between dusk and dawn. Malaria occurs in over 100 countries and territories.