An Infectious Disease
Malaria is an infectious disease caused by parasitic protozoan pathogens. There are five pathogens spread by female mosquitos of the genus Anopheles. They are the Plasmodium falciparum, found in Africa, the Plasmodium vivax, found in Asia and South America, the Plasmodium ovale, found in West Africa, the Plasmodium malariae, found in Africa and the Plasmodium knowlesi, found in South East Asia.
Humans can become the host of any of these pathogens which cause malaria through several different ways, the most common being that someone is infected through the bite of an infected female Anopheles mosquito. The parasite is injected in the mosquito’s saliva and travels to the liver, where it undergoes multiple cell divisions. It then flows into the bloodstream where it infects red blood cells and eventually body cells, which burst open and spread the parasite through the body.
Other causes include IV drug users sharing needles with someone who is infected, babies developing malaria when born to mothers who were unaware they were infected, and through blood transfusions or organ transplants.
Symptoms of malaria include a fever, headaches, nausea, diarrhoea, chills, shivering, excessive sweating, convulsions, and the loss of blood, brain damage, and coma. Those infected with malaria may also suffer from anaemia and its symptoms; fatigue, pale skin, weakness, tiring easily, low blood pressure, heart palpitations, difficulties concentrating, loss of appetite and a cracked or reddened tongue.
P. falciparum is the most dangerous form of malaria found in humans, and it has the highest rates of complications and mortality. It can lead to include jaundice, coagulation defects, spleen rupture, anaemia, shock,...
... middle of paper ...
...sion, producing thousands of active haploid forms called sporozoites, which can be injected into another human through a bite. The life cycle of the malaria parasite repeats itself.
Malaria is a leading cause of death and disease worldwide, with approximately 300-500 million cases per year reported and 1 million deaths annually. However, it can be cured by the use of prescription medication. The type of medication and the length of treatment depends on a variety of factors, such as the person’s age, where they were infected, the type of malaria, pregnancy and severity. A cure is most like to be successful for someone who is diagnosed early on in the illness.
Medications that can be prescribed to aid in the treatment malaria are Chloroquine, Mefloquine, Atovaquone-proguanil, Sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine, Quinine, Doxycycline and Artemisin derivatives.
It was stated that the fever is normally ranged between 102 to 104 degrees 0F (40 degrees 0C), which can last up to 10-12 days after being infected (Harvey, 2015). This high fever may cause one to feel very fatigue and dehydrated, in some cases people may experience a bit of sweating and loss of appetite. In addition, during this infection one may feel a sense of shivering, chills and shaking due to the fact that the body’s immune system is trying to fight the infection, (WHO.2014). The fever itself is said to be caused through the bite of an infected aedes aegypti mosquito. This may cause fever because of the anti-coagulants in the mosquito’s saliva, which cause the blood to clot. Furthermore, fever is not the only effect of Chikungunya in
Mosquitoes carried the diseases and when a person got bit he would give a disease to the mosquito and the mosquito would pass it on to the next victim ("Historical Overview").
If this malaria is left untreated, the infected cells can block blood vessels and fatally cut off blood supply to vital organs. This disease kills around 600,000 people each year. Artemisinin is the first line of defence against the malaria and the malaria is becoming immune to this drug. To protect aga...
This parasite is spread through the bite of sandflies. There are three different types of infections and they each show varying degrees of severity. The cutaneous form produces mild skin ulcers, mucocutaneous produces ulcers in the mouth and nose, and the visceral form of the disease starts with skin ulcers and then fever, low red blood cell count, and an enlarged spleen and liver. The parasite is detected by a microscope and visceral can also be found by doing blood tests. 12 million people are in infected in 98 different countries and 2 million new cases are found every year. The disease also kills around 20 to 50 thousand people a year.
It is caused by parasites of the Plasmodium species(in text reference). These parasites are carried by mosquitoes which become infected after biting someone who has malaria. Malaria is then passed on to others when the infected mosquito bites another person. In rare cases malaria can be passed to another person through blood transfusions, organ donations or shared needles.
Once your dog is infected with the parasitic worm the mosquito bites the next dog and the cycle continues. (Administration, Animal and Veterinary)
Every disease should have a treatment. Lyme disease has many treatments. Antibiotic drugs such as doxycline, amoxicillin, penicillin, and erythromycin are treatments for Lyme disease. There is a new vaccine for the disease. Its name is LYMErix TM.
For several years, I have had an interest in virology and the spread and characteristics of various infectious diseases. Though it makes sense not to possibly induce a state of panic by informing individuals of illnesses that are not native to the area they live in and that they are not likely to contract, I have always liked to remain informed out of my own curiosity and interest. Thus, I have decided to write about malaria.
Malaria is a common disease in a hot tropical area and it affects about 300 million people worldwide. There are four types of parasites that cause malaria in humans. Among the types of species Plasmodium falciparum is most common in Africa region and it can cause deadly form of disease. The Plasmodium vivax which is the second type of species is not life-threatening form of malaria. Plasmodium ovale also causes malaria. The system malaria affect most is the immune system. Malaria undergoes a complex life cycle, which involves two separate asexual reproductive stages in the vertebrate host which include humans and sexual reproduction as well as multiplication in the insect vector of all human.
Malaria is a disease that is caused by parasites. It is transferred from one person to another by the infected female Anopheles mosquito. Malaria has been a serious health problem nowadays. WHO has provided the information that approximately 660,000 people died from malaria globally during 2010. Also, after estimating, there are 219 million cases of malaria infection in 2010 worldwide. In sub-Saharan Africa, being one the country that has the high rate of HIV, AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis, had 90% of the people that...
In likeness to Aids, the malaria virus can be in your body for up to
There are many symptoms of yellow fever and they vary depending on the severity of the disease. Some of the symptoms are basically normal and would not lead the sufferer to believe that something was seriously wrong. The first symptoms, fever, headache, nausea, and backache are common and appear soon after a patient has contracted t...
Malaria (also called biduoterian fever, blackwater fever, falciparum malaria, plasmodium, Quartan malaria, and tertian malaria) is one of the most infectious and most common diseases in the world. This serious, sometimes-fatal disease is caused by a parasite that is carried by a certain species of mosquito called the Anopheles. It claims more lives every year than any other transmissible disease except tuberculosis. Every year, five hundred million adults and children (around nine percent of the world’s population) contract the disease and of these, one hundred million people die. Children are more susceptible to the disease than adults, and in Africa, where ninety percent of the world’s cases occur and where eighty percent of the cases are treated at home, one in twenty children die of the disease before they reach the age of five. Pregnant women are also more vulnerable to disease and in certain parts of Africa, they are four times as likely to contract the disease and only half as likely to survive it.
Depending on the number of parasites and the type of parasites, the type of malaria can now be determined. Antimalarials with specific infectivity suppressive action such as derivatives of artemisinin and primaquine can be prescribed to reduce malaria transmission at all intensities. For falciparum malaria, which is very lethal, the patient should be referred to a larger facility for aggressive therapy as well as parenteral antimalarials or quinine derivative malaria drugs and supportive care (Bloland & Williams, 2003, p. 57).
...at researchers are doing to try to eradicate malaria in underdeveloped countries such as Africa.