Malaria Causes

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Malaria is a hostile parasitic disease passed on by infected female Anopheles mosquitoes known as malaria vectors. Malaria is known to occur in various geographic locations including African countries, South and Southest Asia, Central and South America, the Caribbean and the Middle East. However, malaria does not strike at high altitudes, in cold temperatures, in deserts, and in countries that possess thriving malaria programs. Although malaria is both curable and preventable, “there were about 207 million cases of malaria in 2012 and an estimated 627,000 deaths,” as stated by the World Health Organization. The organisms responsible for the cause of malaria in humans are the four Plasmodium parasite species: P. falciparum, P. vivax, P. malariae, and P. ovale. The first two Plasmodium parasite species, P. falciparum and P. vivax, are widespread and are the cause of most cases of malaria. Out of those two species, P. falciparum is the most lethal, causing acute malaria and 85% of malaria cases. The latter two of the four Plasmodium species are not as common and not as acute. Today’s society is quite aware of malaria and its cause but there was a time when the origin of malaria had yet to be discovered.
In the late 1800s, a military doctor named Alphonse Laveran sought to discover the cause of malaria. In order to do so, Laveran inspected individuals who died after being severely infected with malaria. Upon inspection, Laveran detected a great extent of pigmentation in the blood, spleen, liver, and brain. After making additional observations, Laveran identified hyaline corpuscles as well as crescent-shaped forms in the pigment, which he suspected were actually parasites. A turn of events occurred on November 6, 1880 wh...

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...olved in a clinical trial and is under evaluation. The results will not be available until later this year.
Despite the fact that there is treatment for P. falciparum, it is equally important to pursue prevention methods. One prevention method is to control mosquito populations. This involves getting rid of mosquito larvae and not creating suitable breeding environments for the mosquitoes. Another prevention method is to use bed nets that have insecticide. Yet another prevention method is indoor residual spraying (IRS) with insecticides on various surfaces so that mosquitoes that may be infected do not survive.
P. falciparum is a malaria-causing parasite that is not to be ignored or taken for granted. Although P. falciparum will not be eradicated overnight, medical science is always evolving, giving humans a way to continue fighting this deadly parasite.

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