Malaria Parasite Plasmodium and the Epidemiology of the Disease

Malaria Malaria parasites have been with us since the beginning of time, and fossils of mosquitoes up to thirty million years old show that malaria’s vector has existed for just as long. The parasites causing malaria are highly specific, with man as the only host and mosquitoes as the only vector. Every year, 300,000,000 people are affected by malaria, and while less than one percent of these people die, there are still an estimated 1,500,000 deaths per year. While Malaria was one of the first infectious diseases to be treated successfully with a drug, scientist are still looking for a cure or at least a vaccination today (Cann, 1996). Though many people are aware that malaria is a disease, they are unaware that it is life threatening, kills over a million people each year, and is a very elusive target for antimalarial drugs (Treatment of Malaria, 1996).

"Malaria." Malaria. 29 July 2006. Wikipedia. 26 Jul 2006 .

Mosquito eradication and nets are also ways of preventing malaria. Unfortunately, there are many difficulties with creating malaria vaccines, so they are currently still under development. Every 30 seconds, at least one person dies of malaria. About 350-500 million people are infected with malaria each year, and about 1.3-3 million of these result in death. In the next 20 years, the death rate is expected to double (“Malaria,” 2006).

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.

“Meningococcal Disease.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 12 Oct. 2005. Department of Health and Human Services. 27 July 2006 .

This paper is designed to inform you of the history, the facts, and the precautions needed to prevent a bioterrorist attack. In 1970, The World Health Organization estimated that 50 kg, or 110 lb, of Y. pestis sprayed over a city would infect 150,000 individuals and kill about 40,000 (Grey, p.218). Throughout history, there have been plague epidemics that have killed thousands of people. From the Athenian plague starting in 430 B.C. to the famous Black Death in 1346, people from all over the world have been caught in chaos with insufficient treatments and no reliable way of preventing this horrible disease from spreading.

Malaria is an infectious disease that kills close to a million children every year (Miller, Ackerman, Su, & Wellems, 2013). Although there are several different species of malaria this paper is going to be addressing Plasmodium falciparum, the most fatal of the species. The parasitic infection of P. falciparum can lead to many negative effects including death. This paper will explore the ways in which the disease in contracted, the risk factors as well as the pathogenesis of the parasite and ultimately the potential treatment options based on the progression of the disease process. Causative Agent, Mode of Transmission and Risk Factors P. falciparum is a protozoan parasite that once it has infected its human host causes the disease known as Malaria (Lehne, 2013, p.1238).

23 July: www.globalchange.com/ttaa/ttaa%203.htm Schochetman, Gerald et al., (1992) Aids Testing. New York: Springer-Verlag George, J. Richard et al., (1994) AIDS Testing Vol. II. New York: Springer-Verlag Huber, Joan et al., (1992) The Social Context of AIDS. United Kingdom: Sage Publications Corey Nahman.

The researchers concluded that vivax malaria is “rapidly evolving” and “important genes” might have been missed that allows the P.vivax to become susceptible to even Duffy negative people (AAAS, 2014). In conclusion, malaria causes the most deaths worldwide out the parasitic diseases known. The life cycle process is a rather complex process. Therefore, it is essential in understanding the concept of how the malarial parasite invades the human host and that P. vivax accounts for majority of the malaria cases. Bibliography

7/19/2005: http://www.who.int/vaccines-documents/DocsPDF99/www9943.pdf 3. Ginsberg A. (2001, January). Tuberculosis Vaccine. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.