Malaria
is a serious and life threatening disease that is caused by a parasite Plasmodium
that infects Anopheles-a type of mosquito; which infects human by
biting. There are four different kinds of malarial parasites that can infect
humans: P. falciparum, P. malariae, P. ovale and P. vivax, P. falciparum
causes a more severe form of the disease and leads to death. According to the
World Health Organization (WHO) report, it is estimated that in 2018, 228
million clinical cases of malaria occurred, and 405,000 people died of malaria;
most of them were children in Africa.
Where
does malaria occur?
Malaria
typically is present in warm areas and higher temperatures help mosquitos
to grow better. Malaria is present in more than one hundred countries and
territories. About half of the world’s population is at risk of malaria. It
widely occurs in Africa and South Asia and some parts of Central and South
America, the Caribbean, the Middle East, and Oceania.
How
one can be infected with Malaria?
When
infected female mosquito (Anopheles) bits a human, Plasmodium it
is transferred to the human. Before knowing more about malaria you should also
learn actually how a person get infected with malaria and what happens then? And
I believe you would like to know more about the life cycle of plasmodium and
what plasmodium do with our body?
Life
cycle of Plasmodium
Generally,
an infected female mosquito (Anopheles) bites a person and feeds on
his/her blood; during blood-feeding process mosquito injects small amount of saliva
into the human bloodstream which contains that malarial parasite (Plasmodium).
Once the Plasmodium get entry inside the body, they travel to the liver -the
place where they mature themselves to complete the life cycle. After several
days, the mature Plasmodium enter to the bloodstream of infected person again and
begin to infect red blood cells (RBCs). Plasmodium multiply rapidly inside the RBCs
causing them to burst open. Plasmodium continue to infect more RBCs and the
cycle continues onward.
How
it is transmitted?
Usually,
malaria is transmitted through bite of an infected female mosquito and malaria is
not a contagious disease- which means it does not spread from one person to
other. As Plasmodium present in RBCs, so it can also be transmitted through
blood transfusion, organ transplant, the shared use of needles or syringes
contaminated with malaria infected person’s blood. In some cases, malaria can
be congenital -which means it can be transmitted from mother to unborn infants.
What
are the symptoms of malaria?
After
infection, symptoms of malaria develop within 10 days to 4 weeks. Plasmodium
can also hibernate-which means Plasmodium stay in the body without causing any disease-itself
in RBSs from 1 to 4 years. Symptoms of malaria include fever, shaking chills,
headache, muscle pain, tiredness and flu-like illness, nausea, diarrhea and
vomiting may also take place. As a lot of RBCs are lost, jaundice (a condition
in which skin becomes yellow) can also occur. If malaria is not treated
properly, it can cause several organ failure, mental confusion, breathing
problems, coma and ultimately death.
Malaria
can cause following life-threatening complications: swelling of the brain blood
vessels (cerebral malaria), accumulation of fluid in the lungs that causes
breathing problems (pulmonary edema), deficiency of red blood cells (anemia) and Low blood sugar organ
failure i.e., kidney, liver,
or spleen.
How
malaria is diagnosed?
1-
Trough symptoms: In
the beginning, it can be diagnosed with most common symptoms like fever, headaches,
shaking chills, sweating, nausea, muscles pain, and vomiting.
2-
Microscopy: The
certain way is to have a diagnostic test where a drop of blood of infected
person is examined under the microscope to diagnose the existence of malaria
parasites.
3-
Immunologic (Antigen
detection): Currently, more quick and robust ways are
available to detect malaria, like immunological like antigen detection method. Dipstick
or cassette methods for the detection of malaria has widely been used; which
can give really quick results within just 5-15 minutes.
How
it can be prevented?
Although
malaria is deadly disease but illness and death from malaria can usually be
prevented by following things:
- Taking antimalarial medication
to kill the parasites,
- Keeping away mosquitoes from
biting you, especially at night and
- Sleeping under
insecticide-treated bed nets,
- Using insect repellent.
Some
of effective antimalarial drugs are Chloroquine,
Mefloquine, Primaquine, and Tafenoquine. The following drugs are
not recommended to use but you are advised to contact with doctor if you have
any symptoms rather than self-medication.
Vaccination
against malaria:
As
all other methods of fighting malaria, including drugs, insecticides, and
insecticide-treated bed nets, have not succeeded in eliminating the disease. However,
scientists from all over the globe are working on developing an effective
vaccine and trials are also undergoing. The malaria parasite is a complex
organism which have a complicated life cycle and can evade your immune system
by continually changing its surface, so it’s very difficult to develop a
vaccine against these varying surfaces. In addition, scientists are yet unable
to totally understand the complex immune responses that protect humans against
malaria.
Author's information:
M.R. Siddique has written this article and M. Numan has edited this article in addition to help in write up.
References
https://www.cdc.gov/malaria/about/faqs.html
https://www.mmv.org/malaria-medicines/definitions-and-symptoms?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIsu-YoLv86AIVB9reCh1dcAKbEAAYASAAEgLYzPD_BwE
https://www.healthline.com/health/malaria
https://www.malariasite.com/life-cycle/
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