Malaria is an infectious disease of humans and other animals caused by microorganism of the genus Plasmodium. The microorganisms first infect the liver, and then act as parasites within red blood cells, causing symptoms that typically include fever and headache, in severe cases progressing to coma or death. A map showing the occurence of the disease on earth can be found here
Malaria is transmitted by several Anopheles mosquitoes, including:
- Anopheles ?
- Anopheles ?
- Anopheles ?
- Anopheles ?
Types of malaria
Five species of malaria can be distinguished, triggered by different Plasmodium species. Severe disease is caused by P. falciparum while the disease caused by P. vivax, P. ovale, and P. malariae is generally a milder form that is rarely fatal. P. knowlesi, prevalent in Southeast Asia, causes malaria in macaques and can also cause severe infections in humans. Most of the types of malaria occur on generally the same places on earth, for an example, see P.falciparum map and P. ovale map
Depending on the type of malaria, the treatment (and thus the drugs provided will vary).[1]
Preventing malaria
To some extend, some people (often those living in area's where the disease is endemic) have evolved to be partially genetically resistant to malaria. This resistance is often accomplished by diseases as sickle cell disease, thalassaemias, glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency as well as the presence of Duffy antigens on the subject's red blood cells.
People that do have not acquired such defenses will soon still be able to attain natural resistance trough a malaria vaccine. Some vaccines are allready on the market but are not yet 100% efficient.
Suitable additional measures to prevent malaria the destruction of malaria larvae in the vicinity (ie by removing freshwater in the vicinity, or by killing the larvae manually. Other measures are the use of
- clothing. It is advisable to use clothing that covers the entire body, atleast in the late afternoon and night and /or when travelling to waterlogged areas or any other areas where anopheles mosquitoes are present in large nymbers) Note that the mosquitoes will often be more eager to sting during late afternoon/night
- mosquito nets
- insect-repellents (ie sprayed on the person's skin, or aerated in rooms)
Malaria medication is often only usable for a short duration (ie upto a few months) and depending on the medication, may also be expensive to very expensive, rendering them useless to (often economically challenged) people living within regions where the disease is endemic. They are however very useful to aid workers and provide 100% efficiency (depending on the medication used).
Treating malaria
Although the occurence of malaria needs to be prevented as much as possible, it is but logical that for people living in regions where malaria is endemic, at some point, treatment will be necessairy (being stun is but a matter of time). In these cases, drugs such as quinine, artesunate, artemisinin, primaquine may be needed. These drugs may be more or less effective depending on where you aqcuired the disease. This as there are varying degrees of resistance against one or several of the treatments, see this map Quinine is no longer effective but can be extracted from the bark of the cinchona tree. Artemesinin can be extracted from Artemisia annua. Some other plants too can be used to treat malaria.