Malaria

Malaria has been around for thousands of years and is thought to have originated in Africa. It is a mosquito born disease which kills approximately 2.7 million people a year. In the 1950's the world health organisation attempted to eradicate malaria by using powerful insecticides to kill the mosquitoes and new antimalarial drugs to treat people with. By the end of the 1950's there had by a drop in the number of cases of malaria , but hadn't been eradicated.

The plasmodium parasites are highly specific, humans are there only human host and female anopheles mosquitoes are the vectors, carriers. A single bit from an infected mosquito can result in the plasmodium sporozoites entering the blood. Once they have enter your blood and make their way to your liver they can stay there for nearly 3 weeks before causing any symptoms. But from them entering your blood stream you are infected with malaria. For more information on malaria and how its carried visit this web site: www.malaria.org

Symptoms:
At the initial onset of malaria bouts of chills and fevers will occur, this can last up to 5 days. If treatment is not received then the spleen and liver come become enlarged, anemia then develops and jaundice also occur. Death occurs from anemia or the clogging of blood vessels in brain tissue as malaria affects red blood cells.

Treatment:

• Quinine has been used for hundreds of years as an antimalarial drug, but it is not as commonly used now as cheaper drugs have been produced and also drugs with fewer side effects have been developed. But in some severe cases it is still used.
• Chloroquinine was a popular antimalarial drug earlier this century, but many strains of malaria have now become resistant to is so it is used much less.
• Primaquinine is another popular antimalarial drug, it kills the parasites in the liver and also the gametocytes in the blood, therefore it will reduce the spread of infection.

Many people don't wait until they have contracted malaria before getting treatment, they will usually start a course of preventative drugs before they travel and carry on with these until a few weeks after there return. This is generally a very good way of preventing contraction of malaria, but many of the drugs have unpleasant side effects.