Related topics: mosquitoes , malaria parasite , parasites , vaccine , children
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
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 ...
Scientists report original source of malaria
Aug 03, 2009 |
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Researchers have identified what they believe is the original source of malignant malaria: a parasite found in chimpanzees in equatorial Africa.
Deadly parasite's rare sexual dalliances may help scientists neutralize it
Apr 09, 2009 |
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For years, microbiologist Stephen Beverley, Ph.D., has tried to get the disease-causing parasite Leishmania in the mood for love. In this week's Science, he and colleagues at the National Institutes of Health report that t ...
Mass spec technique analyzes defensive chemicals on seaweed surfaces for potential drugs
Apr 06, 2009 |
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A new analytical technique is helping scientists learn how organisms as simple as seaweed can mount complex chemical defenses to protect themselves from microbial threats such as fungus. Known as desorption ...
Scientists Build Anti-Mosquito Laser
Mar 16, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- In an effort to prevent the spread of malaria, scientists have built a laser that shoots and kills mosquitoes. Malaria, which is caused by a parasite and transmitted by mosquitoes, kills about ...
How mosquitoes could teach us a trick in the fight against malaria
Mar 05, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- The means by which most deadly malaria parasites are detected and killed by the mosquitoes that carry them is revealed for the first time in research published today in Science Express. The di ...
New tool in the fight against mosquito-borne disease: A microbial 'mosquito net'
Dec 24, 2009 |
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Earlier this year, researchers showed that they could cut the lives of disease-carrying mosquitoes in half by infecting them with a bacterium they took from fruit flies. Now, a new report in the December 24th issue of Cell, ...
First adhere, then detach and glide forward
Dec 23, 2009 |
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How do one-celled parasites move from the salivary gland of a mosquito through a person's skin into red blood cells? What molecular mechanisms form the basis for this very important movement of the protozoa? ...
Meddling in mosquitoes' sex lives could help stop the spread of malaria, says study
Dec 22, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Stopping male mosquitoes from sealing their sperm inside females with a 'mating plug' could prevent mosquitoes from reproducing, and offer a potential new way to combat malaria, say scientists ...
Scientists reveal malaria parasites' tactics for outwitting our immune systems
Nov 30, 2009 |
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Malaria parasites are able to disguise themselves to avoid the host's immune system, according to research funded by the Wellcome Trust and published today in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of ...
Vaccines on horizon for AIDS, Alzheimer's, herpes
Medicine & Health / Medications
Nov 17, 2009 |
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(AP) -- Malaria. Tuberculosis. Alzheimer's disease. AIDS. Pandemic flu. Genital herpes. Urinary tract infections. Grass allergies. Traveler's diarrhea. You name it, the pharmaceutical industry is working ...
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 ...
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.
Daily temperature shifts may alter malaria patterns
Aug 03, 2009 |
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Daytime temperature fluctuations greatly alter the incubation period of malaria parasites in mosquitoes and alter transmission rates of the disease. Consideration of these fluctuations reveals a more accurate picture of climate ...
Mosquitoes deliver malaria 'vaccine' through bites
Jul 29, 2009 |
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In a daring experiment in Europe, scientists used mosquitoes as flying needles to deliver a "vaccine" of live malaria parasites through their bites. The results were astounding: Everyone in the vaccine group acquired immunity ...
