Related topics: mosquitoes
Malaria
hideMalaria is a vector-borne infectious disease caused by protozoan parasites. It is widespread in tropical and subtropical regions, including parts of the Americas, Asia, and Africa. Each year, there are approximately 350–500 million cases of malaria, killing between one and three million people, the majority of whom are young children in Sub-Saharan Africa. Ninety percent of malaria-related deaths occur in Sub-Saharan Africa. Malaria is commonly associated with poverty, but is also a cause of poverty and a major hindrance to economic development.
Malaria is one of the most common infectious diseases and an enormous public health problem. The disease is caused by protozoan parasites of the genus Plasmodium. Five species of the plasmodium parasite can infect humans; the most serious forms of the disease are caused by Plasmodium falciparum. Malaria caused by Plasmodium vivax, Plasmodium ovale and Plasmodium malariae causes milder disease in humans that is not generally fatal. A fifth species, Plasmodium knowlesi, causes malaria in macaques but can also infect humans. This group of human-pathogenic Plasmodium species is usually referred to as malaria parasites.
Usually, people get malaria by being bitten by an infective female Anopheles mosquito. Only Anopheles mosquitoes can transmit malaria, and they must have been infected through a previous blood meal taken on an infected person. When a mosquito bites an infected person, a small amount of blood is taken, which contains microscopic malaria parasites. About one week later, when the mosquito takes its next blood meal, these parasites mix with the mosquito's saliva and are injected into the person being bitten. The parasites multiply within red blood cells, causing symptoms that include symptoms of anemia (light-headedness, shortness of breath, tachycardia, etc.), as well as other general symptoms such as fever, chills, nausea, flu-like illness, and, in severe cases, coma, and death. Malaria transmission can be reduced by preventing mosquito bites with mosquito nets and insect repellents, or by mosquito control measures such as spraying insecticides inside houses and draining standing water where mosquitoes lay their eggs. Work has been done on malaria vaccines with limited success and more exotic controls, such as genetic manipulation of mosquitoes to make them resistant to the parasite have also been considered.
Although some are under development, no vaccine is currently available for malaria that provides a high level of protection; preventive drugs must be taken continuously to reduce the risk of infection. These prophylactic drug treatments are often too expensive for most people living in endemic areas. Most adults from endemic areas have a degree of long-term infection, which tends to recur, and also possess partial immunity (resistance); the resistance reduces with time, and such adults may become susceptible to severe malaria if they have spent a significant amount of time in non-endemic areas. They are strongly recommended to take full precautions if they return to an endemic area. Malaria infections are treated through the use of antimalarial drugs, such as quinine or artemisinin derivatives. However, parasites have evolved to be resistant to many of these drugs. Therefore, in some areas of the world, only a few drugs remain as effective treatments for malaria.
For more information about Malaria, read the full article at
Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.
News tagged with malaria
World's largest malaria vaccine trial now underway in 7 African countries
Medicine & Health / Medications
Nov 03, 2009 |
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A pivotal efficacy trial of RTS,S, the world's most clinically advanced malaria vaccine candidate, is now underway in seven African countries: Burkina Faso, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique and Tanzania. The trial, ...
New tool promises more accurate antimalarial drug dosing
Oct 29, 2009 |
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Scientists at LSTM have developed a tool to support the development of appropriate age-based dosing regimens for malaria drugs. Weight-based dosing is challenging in many malaria endemic countries because access to formal ...
Boys with urogenital birth defects are 33 percent more common in villages sprayed with DDT
Oct 23, 2009 |
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Women who lived in villages sprayed with DDT to reduce malaria gave birth to 33 per cent more baby boys with urogenital birth defects (UGBD) between 2004 and 2006 than women in unsprayed villages, according to research published ...
Bug barcode readers hold out promise of universal vaccines
Oct 15, 2009 |
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Veterinary scientists have made a discovery that promises to deliver a new approach to fast development of cheap vaccines that are effective in all mammals - not just humans or another particular species. They propose that ...
Researchers find extreme genetic variability in malaria parasite
Oct 14, 2009 |
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Researchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine Center for Vaccine Development (CVD) have charted the extreme genetic differences that occur over time in the most dangerous malaria parasite in the world. While ...
Control of mosquito vectors of malaria may be enhanced by a new method of biocontrol
Oct 02, 2009 |
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Biopesticides containing a fungus that is pathogenic to mosquitoes may be an effective means of reducing malaria transmission, particularly if used in combination with insecticide-treated bednets (ITNs), according to a modelling ...
Parasite bacteria may help fight spread of mosquito-borne diseases
Oct 01, 2009 |
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Infecting mosquitoes with a bacterial parasite could help prevent the spread of lymphatic filariasis, one of the major neglected tropical diseases of the developing world, according to research published today ...
Children found to be most at risk from malaria
Oct 01, 2009 |
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Insecticide treated mosquito nets reduce the chances of developing life-threatening malaria in Africa, however recent research shows that older children are the least well protected by nets in the community. The research, ...
Fungus enhances susceptibility of resistant malaria mosquito to pesticides
Sep 24, 2009 |
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In areas where malaria mosquitoes have become resistant to chemical pesticides, mosquito-killing fungi can be an effective tool. Fungal spores can effectively infect and kill malaria mosquitoes, even those that are resistant ...
New research confirms potential deadly nature of emerging new monkey malaria species in humans
Sep 09, 2009 |
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Researchers in Malaysia have identified key laboratory and clinical features of an emerging new form of malaria infection. The research, funded by the Wellcome Trust, confirms the potentially deadly nature of the disease.
Genome of Irish potato famine pathogen decoded
Sep 09, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- A large international research team has decoded the genome of the notorious organism that triggered the Irish potato famine in the mid-19th century and now threatens this season's tomato and ...
Mosquito screens found to be cheap and effective in malaria prevention
Sep 03, 2009 |
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Trials of a screen-based malaria prevention programme in 500 homes in The Gambia, Africa, have led to a 50 per cent reduction in malaria transmission and anaemia in children. A child dies from malaria in Africa ...
New discovery points the way towards malaria 'vaccine'
Aug 21, 2009 |
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Malaria kills anywhere from one to three million people around the world annually and affects the lives of up to 500 million more. Yet until now, scientists did not fully understand exactly how the process that caused the ...
Naturally occurring protection against severe malaria
Aug 17, 2009 |
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In a study to be published in the next issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), researchers at the Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência, in Portugal, show that an anti-oxidant drug can protect again ...
Tuberculosis treatment may be shortened
Aug 17, 2009 |
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According to Dutch researcher Hanneke Later-Nijland, it may be possible to shorten the duration of treatment for tuberculosis. Due to the long duration of treatment, not every patient sees it through. Partly because of this, ...
