Malaria By Sir David Ochieng March 15,

What is Malaria?  Malaria is a parasite that enters the blood.  This parasite is a protozoan called plasmodium.  3 to 700 million people get malaria each year, but only kills 1 to 2 million  40% of the worlds population lives in malaria zones  Malaria zones are: Africa, India, Middle East, Southeast Asia, Central and South America, Eastern Europe, and the South Pacific (slide 13).

History and Future Research  One of the oldest known diseases.  King Tut died of malaria.  Malaria has been infecting humans for over 50,000 years.  References to malaria have been recorded for nearly 6000 years, starting in China.  Used to be common in Europe and North America.  First advances in malaria were made in 1880 by a French army doctor named Charles Laveran.  He looked into infected red blood cells and discovered the parasite was a protist. This was the first time a protist was discovered to cause a disease.  Carlos Finlay discovered that mosquitoes transmitted diseases.  Ronald Ross discovered that mosquitoes transmitted malaria in  First effective medicine was discovered by Pierre Pelletier and Joseph Caventou. This medicine is called quinine, which comes from the bark of cinchona trees in Peru.  No effective vaccine: only immunity is a result of multiple infections.

Types of Malaria  Falciparum: Almost 80% of cases and 90% of malaria deaths. Primarily found in South America and Africa.  Ovale: Rarest form. Found in West Africa. Can be up to four years before and symptoms occur.  Malariae: Can infect other mammals. Found in Africa and SE Asia.  Vivax: 20% of infections. Widest geographic distribution.

Symptoms and Transmission  Female Anopheles mosquito carries parasite and transmits it to humans. Affects red blood cells  Not highly contagious, however, as it affects blood cells it is possible to receive the parasite through unclean needles.  Can pass through a placenta to a fetus.(Slide 11).  Symptoms: chills, fever, headache, anemia, muscle pain, nausea, sweating and vomiting.

How Malaria Affects You  When malaria enters the blood, the parasites go to the liver, where they reproduce.  After they infect the liver, they transform, and go for red blood cells, as shown in slide 11.  The more the parasite breaks out of blood cells, the sicker a person gets. This is when symptoms occur.  The period when malaria is in the liver is called the dormant phase.  Falciparum malaria is the most dangerous type of malaria, because it makes red blood cells stick to veins, clogging them.

Treatment and Prevention  Different medicine is needed for different types of malaria.  Important to know where the malarial zones are as shown on slide 13  Important to know where malaria was picked up: malaria from Africa might be resistant to medicine that malaria from South America is not.  Primaquine is the standard medicine for malaria in the liver  Chloroquine is medicine for malaria in blood.  Some types of malaria are chloroquine resistant, so quinine is used.  Use bug spray and mosquito nets to avoid being bitten.  Prophylaxis (prevention) and Malarone are used to reduce chances of getting malaria.

Age  No age limit  Pregnant women and children are most likely to get it.  People from non-malaria zones are at much higher risk than natives when they are in malaria zones.

Cost  Not expensive to treat.  Medicine usually costs around $2.50.  In hospital however, severe malaria can cost much more.  Treatment of severe malaria in a hospital can cost up to a few hundred dollars in developing countries; thousands of dollars in the U.S.

Conclusion Malaria is one of the oldest diseases known to man. It is stoppable, yet 1 to 2 million people die of it every year. I learned that there are several types of malaria, and it reproduces in the liver, but affects the blood. The thing that interested me most was how it affects the blood and its long history. Even though it is easy to treat, this disease has killed millions of people.

Diagram of Malaria Infection Infection is by mosquito bite Infects liver, then blood cells

Chart: Malaria Cases per 100,000 people. Source: United Nations Development Program

Diagram: Malaria Zones Source: United Nations Development Program

Bibliography Beers, Fletcher, Jones et al. The Merck Manual of Medical Information "Malaria" p Copyright 2003, by Merck Research Laboratories American Accreditation HealthCare Commission "Malaria" Copyright Wikipedia "Malaria" Last modified March 1, National Center for Biotechnology Information "The Malaria Burden: Economic and Social Impact" Copyright 2004 by The American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene