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What is Malaria?
Malaria is the most important tropical disease, remaining
widespread throughout the tropics, but also occurring in many temperate
regions. It exacts a heavy toll of illness and death - especially amongst
children and pregnant women. It also poses a risk to travelers and
immigrants, with imported cases increasing in non-endemic areas. Treatment
and control have become more difficult with the spread of drug-resistant
strains of parasites and insecticide-resistant strains of mosquito vectors.
Health education, better case management, better control tools and concerted
action are needed to limit the burden of the disease.
Malaria has become a global problem. It is endemic in 105
countries and is responsible for over 300 to 500 million clinical cases and
more than a million deaths each year. During the 1950s and 1960s a vigorous
campaign to eradicate malaria was waged through out the world with great
success. The disease was in the process of being eliminated in some regions.
But over the past few decades, resurgence is being witnessed. The dream of
the global eradication of malaria is beginning to fade with the growing
number of cases, rapid spread of drug resistance in people and increasing
insecticide resistance in mosquitoes.
Four species of protozoan parasite of the plasmodium genus
- P. falciparum, P. vivax, P. ovale,
and P. malariae - cause malaria in humans. Though
malaria bought on by P.vivax is the most common, it
is, however, malaria caused by P. falciparum that is most lethal.
There are more than 2,500 known species of mosquitoes
worldwide. Out of that, only around 50 to 60 species of Anophelis mosquitoes are capable of transmitting the
infection.
Numerous epidemiologic and ecologic factors play a vital
role in determining the effect of malaria on human health and in the
intensity of disease transmission. The immunological status of a person also
has a bearing on the severity of the disease.
The clinical features of malaria vary. The classic
symptoms include persistant fever, shivering, joint
pains, and headaches and repeated vomiting. Severe and complicated malaria
causing renal failure, hypoglycemia, anemia, pulmonary edema, shock and coma
can have fatal consequences, leading to death. Malaria can be cured if
promptly diagnosed and adequately treated.
Other Related Information
 Life Cycle of Plasmodium vivax
Life Cycle of Plasmodium falciparum
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