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- What is malaria?
- Symptoms of malaria
- Causes of malaria
- Prevention of malaria
- Risk factors for malaria
- Complications of malaria
- When to see a doctor about malaria
- Diagnosis of malaria
- Conventional treatment of malaria
- Alternative/complementary treatment of malaria
- Living with malaria
- Caring for someone with malaria
Malaria is an infectious disease caused by a parasite inside mosquitoes which is transmitted into the blood by a mosquito bite to the skin. This condition can also be transmitted though sharing syringes or by blood transfusions that contain the parasite.
The parasite that causes this disease is the protozoan parasite from the Plasmodium family. The Anopheles mosquito is generally responsible for transmitting the parasite that causes malaria.
The most dangerous type of malaria comes from the parasite Plasmodium falciparum. This parasite multiplies very quickly in the blood over a short time and causes symptoms very quickly too and it is the form of malaria that is usually fatal without treatment. The other parasites which cause malaria; Plasmodium vivax, Plasmodium ovale and Plasmodium malariae all result in much milder disease that is not generally fatal.
Malaria most commonly occurs in countries where there are jungles, swamps or marshes, which is why it is commonly called "marsh fever", "jungle fever" or "swamp fever". Malaria is extremely common in Africa, India and in some other developing countries too.
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Facts about malaria
- According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), around 40% of the world's population is at risk of catching malaria, especially those people living in the poorest countries in the world
- Around 20% of children in Africa die of malaria each year
- Malaria causes around 880,000 deaths each year, with 90% of those deaths occurring in sub-Saharan Africa
- Around 85% of all malaria-related deaths occur in children under five years of age
- Malaria is curable with the right medication and death can prevented if medication is administered and the condition is properly managed
- More than 1,000,000 people die of malaria each year, mainly in Africa and mainly babies, children and pregnant women
- People travelling overseas are normally given malaria tablets before they travel to prevent infection of some genus
- Malaria is a serious health problem for both the pregnant woman and the unborn child
- The incubation period for malaria is 7-30 days - the incubation period defines the period from when the person is bitten by the infected mosquito to when they display symptoms of malaria
- People with the gene for sickle cell anaemia, haemoglobin C, thalassaemia trait or deficiency of the enzyme glucose-6 phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) have some partial protection against developing malaria
- There are still a number of malaria endemic zones in various developing countries all around the world
- The literacy of the household in developing countries in malaria zones has a great bearing on whether they understand that preventative measures (using a net around the bed etc) can greatly reduce risk of malaria
- There is some concern about knowledge of malaria and prevention of malaria in remote areas of malaria regions and scientists recommend better access to medical posts in these areas
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