Malaria kills three people every minute. Each year, it is thought that as many as 2.7 million people die from malaria and between 300 and 500 million suffer potentially fatal cases. The disease threatens 2.5 billion people, almost half the world’s population.
African countries south of the Sahara desert account for 90% of all clinical cases and nearly 90% of deaths caused by malaria. Children are most vulnerable to this major killer. In rural, tropical African areas, one child in 20 dies from malaria before he or she reaches the age of five years.
What is Malaria?Malaria is a disease, caused by any of four species of parasite that is carried from person to person by a mosquito and transmitted by the bite of an infected female Anopheles mosquito.
Malaria is primarily a disease of the blood cells and small blood vessels. By causing the cells to become ‘sticky’ and eventually to burst, it causes blockages of the small blood vessels in the major organs of the body. This can cause severe disease and death – in case of the infection with the P. falciparum species of malaria, this can occur within 24 hrs of the disease first becoming evident.
Malaria caused by the other three parasite, namely Plasmodium vivax, P. ovale and P. malariae, is much milder and does not cause death, although they cause recurrent malaria than in itself is a debilitating disease.
The malaria parasite is found mostly in the tropical and subtropical regions of the world. Mosquito breeding is severely hampered in temperatures below 20 degree C. Optimal conditions for breeding are at temperatures around 30 degree C together with humidity levels of over 60%. Consequently, temperature and humidity largely dictate whether a country is likely to experience year-round malaria, seasonal malaria or localized break through.
The severity of malaria and its incidence is governed also by the immunity levels of the host, man. Immunity depends on constant exposure to the malaria-infected mosquito. Hence war and civil disturbances leading to an influx of non-immune workers, as well as tourism, all lead to the exposure of non immune to the malaria parasite.
Malaria - Infectious disease
