Hispaniola is the only malaria endemic island in the Caribbean, with Haiti attributed most of the malaria cases. Tamar Carter has analyzed the genetics of both the human host and the parasite of malaria, specifically Plasmodium falciparum, in order to determine the impacts of malaria on Haitian population health. She has studied the genetic adaptations to malaria found in Haiti, two possible add-on techniques for RBCD screening, and the impacts of human intervention. Carter has determined poverty to be the main culprit for endemic disease; health infrastructure is limited and surveillance and preventative resources are lacking. The 2010 earthquake has increased the recorded cases of malaria, but the cause of this can be due to the increase in attention to Haiti and, therefore, the increase in malaria testing and monitoring or due to the natural disaster itself. Most likely it is due to a combination of the two.
There is a high frequency of red blood cell disorders, including sickle cell disease and G6PD deficiency, with 14.4% and 18.7% of the Haitian population, respectively, carrying these disorders. Only one HbSS individual was identified, an infant, suggesting that HbSS infants are not surviving into adulthood, and that there is a need for broader sickle cell screening. There is a need to inform potential parents of their sickle cell status in order for them to plan and prepare for the health of their child. Carter’s research showed that among the traditional screening methods, spectrophotometry (spec), and insoluble hemoglobin separation (insol), the spec had the highest accuracy of 100%. Interestingly, this was not the recommended method; the insol method was recommended due to its economic feasibility, unlike the more accura...
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...ately incites the question of what are possible explanations? Also, can these explanations be used to decrease the resistance rate/ presence of resistance found in other parts of the world? She is currently studying to see if the genotype marker for artemisinin resistance is present in the Haitian population as well as the impact and effects of the increase use of artemisinin in Haiti.
A major question that was incited after listening to Carter’s research is: What are the effects of poverty on the environment that increase the risk of malaria transmission? Haiti has a substantial deforestation, which increases the distribution of warm, sunlit pools previously covered by trees, as Wiley discusses in Chapter 8. How does the deforestation of Haiti reflect on malaria statistics in comparison to those of the Dominican Republic?
In the continent Africa, about 1 in 100 individuals develops this disease. We ask ourselves why is the frequency of a potentially fatal disease so much higher in Africa? The answer is related to another deadly disease, which is called malaria. Chills, fever, vomiting, and severe headaches characterize malaria (GENETICS Sickle Cell Case Study. (n.d.). 2000, October 19). Malaria is caused by a disgusting parasite called Plasmodium that is transmitted to humans by mosquitos. When the malaria parasites invade the bloodstream, the red blood cells that contain defective hemoglobin get sickle cell out and die (Facts About Sickle Cell Disease. 2014, January 16). This helps protect the individual with Sickle Cell Anemia from an infection of malaria. As you can see, this is why a variety of areas in the world has a high rate of malaria, such as
SCD has major social and economic implications for the affected child and the families. Recurrent sickle-cell crises interfere with the patient’s life, especially with regard to education, work and psychosocial development (WHO). Sickle cell anemia, specifically, is a serious disease that can require frequent hospital stays. Repeated hospitalization for intravenous pain medication, antibiotic therapy and blood transfusions is undertaken to treat medical problems as about 1 in every 10 children with sickle cell disease. People with SCD may suffer abdominal pain, breathlessness, delayed growth and puberty, fatigue, fever, ulcers, among others. These patients often die early of overwhelming infection or as a consequence of acute or chronic damage to the body organs. Those with sickle cell disorder often suffer neglect and
Malaria is a common infectious disease found mainly in the tropics but in rare circumstances can be found in temperate areas. Depending on the circumstances malaria can be either life threatening cause serious illness.
During a short break of solitude from studying, I explored and came across that the environment in which most African Americans reside in has a high occurrence of malaria virus. The malaria virus disease is contagious and when it contaminates someone with sickle cell traits, it cannot survive on the external part of the human body so therefore the individual doesn’t develop the deadly malaria virus. While looking further into our class textbook on Human Genetics 11th Edition by Ricki Lewis, and this issue of sickle-cell among the African Americans, I
Although the Columbian Exchange allowed for the beneficial exchange of cultures, ideas, foods, and animals around the world during the 1450-1750 time period, it also had a dark side. One detrimental result of the Columbian Exchange would be the spreading of smallpox from Europe to the New World.
People with sickle cell anemia can also experience complications from blood circulation and infection-fighting problems. These include a higher risk of certain infections and stroke as well as a condition called acute c...
Nuttall, Nick, and Silja Halle. "US Slave." : Haiti Deforestation. UNEP, n.d. Web. 2 May 2014.
www.msh.org - Management Sciences for Health - Republic of Haiti. (n.d.). Retrieved February 23, 2010, from http://www.msh.org/global-presence/latin-america-and-the-caribbean/Haiti.cfm
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), sickle cell disease (SCD) affects millions of people worldwide and predominantly affects descendants from sub-Saharan Africa, South and Central America, the Caribbean, Saudi Arabia, India; and the Mediterranean. Sickle cell disease is a genetic disorder of the red blood cells where the red blood cells comprises of predominantly hemoglobin S, an abnormal type of hemoglobin (2011). Two most common types of sickle cell disease seen in the clinical setting are Sickle Cell Anemia (SS) and Sickle-Hemoglobin C Disease (SC) (Sickle Cell Disease Association of America, 2014, para.1).
In likeness to Aids, the malaria virus can be in your body for up to
Bibliography:.. References 1) Lewis, Ricki, “The Rise of Antibiotic-Resistant Infections”. Food and Drug Administration Publications. http://www.fda.gov/fdac/features/795_antibio.html September, 1995. 2) Levy, S., Bittner, M., and Salyers, A. Ask the Experts about “Ask the Experts”.
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.
This dangerous disease should be recognized as a threat and menace, so the oblivious should become aware of all the deaths caused in a year by malaria. To sum it all up, malaria is caused by parasite-infected mosquitoes, signs of malaria are basically changes in temperature from colds to fevers, it is diagnosed by extinguishable malaria parasites in the blood and treatment is determined by the severity of the disease, the outcome is usually complete recovery and in some cases, death is the only way out, and preventing malaria is all about preventing mosquitoes Again, malaria is a disastrous disease, one you don’t want to get; one that no one wants to get. Malaria is a disease worth knowing about, because it has killed an immense amount of people.
When examining diseases and how they affect a community, it is important for medical anthropologists to use a biological or epidemiological approach to gather information about the disease or pathogen behind the epidemic. An epidemiological approach “views disease in ecological term(s) as the interaction between a pathogen(s) and its host(s), as this interaction is shaped by the conditions of a specific environment(s)” (Joralemon 2010:33). In using this approach, information gathered about the genetics of the disease help determine how it spreads, what the rate of transmission is, the ways it affects the body as well as ways to prevent the spread and heal an infected person. This approach gathers very practical and scientific information that needs to be deciphered in terms of the community. When looking at the cholera epidemics in South America in the early 1990s, it was important for world leaders to know how the disease was spreading, how fast it was spreading and how it affected the body. The strengths to using the biological/epidemiological approach are that the government is able to pinpoint sources of contamination and identify disease pathogens. However, a limitation to this approach is that it does not take into consideration the cultural, ec...
In the recent article, "Malaria epidemic hits southern Venezuela" found on the Associated Press web site, reporter Ian James focuses on the Malaria epidemic that has hit southern Venezuela this year, particularly gold miners. From the lead, there is a clear indication as to the tone and direction the reporter will take. In this case, James focuses on a straightforward approach by answering the five basic questions: who, what, where, when and how.