Malaria is transmitted by the mosquito.
Malaria is a parasitic disease transmitted by mosquitoes. Malaria is life-threatening, and results in at least one million deaths each year. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 90 percent of malaria deaths occur in Sub-Saharan Africa. Most of these deaths are among children. There are effective techniques for fighting, controlling and treating malaria, but many of them are expensive and are not available to people in poorer countries.
Types
There are four types of malaria, each caused by a different variety of single-celled Plasmodium parasites. These types include P. malariae, P. ovale, P. vivax and P. falciparum, according to the World Health Organization. P. falciparum is the most common type of Plasmodium in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Effects
Malaria enters the human blood stream when an infected mosquito takes a blood meal. The parasite infects the red blood cells, liver and immune system, causing high fevers, headaches, vomiting and other flu-like symptoms. Malaria can kill by clogging the capillaries that bring blood to the brain and by damaging red blood cells, resulting in anemia.
The Battle
There is no magic bullet for fighting malaria. Controlling the spread of the illness involves controlling mosquito populations, protecting people from bites with insecticides and mosquito nets, and treating those already infected with I.V. fluids and medications to control temperature and blood flow. According to the website Africa Fighting Malaria, prevention depends in large part on the cooperation of communities. Individuals must agree to sleep under protective nets, and to allow their homes to be sprayed with insecticides, for example.
Re-emergence
The past several decades have seen global humanitarian organizations like the World Health Organization, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or CDC, and others, launch massive efforts to combat malaria in Africa. However, in the last decade, rates of malaria infections and deaths have increased dramatically. The CDC lists several possible reasons for this re-emergence in Africa, including the evolution of treatment-resistant strains of Plasmodium; civil unrest; migration of non-immune populations and changing patterns of rainfall.
Research
There is currently no vaccine to protect humans from Plasmodium; however, there are many individuals who have a natural immunity to infection. This natural immunity is currently being studied by the CDC in the hopes of identifying its source in DNA. The CDC and the World Health Organization are currently working on finding alternative drug treatments for eradicating treatment-resistant Plasmodium, and on alternative pesticides for eradicating pesticide-resistant mosquitoes.
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