Malaria - the Disease

The Disease...............

That lead everyone in for a great awaking.

Malaria in humans is caused by a protozoon of the genus Plasmodium and the four subspecies, falciparum, vivax, malariae, and ovale. The species that causes the greatest illness and death in Africa is P. falciparum. The disease is transmitted by the bites of mosquitoes of the genus Anopheles, of which the Anopheles gambiae complex (the most efficient) is responsible for the transmission of disease in Africa. Fever is the main symptom of malaria. The most severe manifestations are cerebral malaria (mainly in children and persons without previous immunity), anemia (mainly in children and pregnant women), and kidney and other organ dysfunction (e.g., respiratory distress syndrome). Persons repeatedly exposed to the disease acquire a considerable degree of clinical immunity, which is unstable and disappears after a year away from the endemic-disease environment. Immunity reappears after malarial bouts if the person returns to an endemic-disease zone. Most likely to die of malaria are persons without previous immunity, primarily children or persons from parts of the same country (e.g., high altitudes) where transmission is absent, or persons from more industrialized countries where the disease does not exist.

Why Is Malaria Reemerging?

Do you think that when that thought they got everyone that had Malaria it was over? Well I think you knoe that's no where this titie nor paragraph. In the last decade, the prevalence of malaria has been escalating at an alarming rate, especially in Africa. An estimated 300 to 500 million cases each year cause 1.5 to 2.7 million deaths, more than 90% in children under 5 years of age in Africa. Malaria has been estimated to cause 2.3% of global disease and 9% of disease in Africa; it ranks third among major infectious disease threats in Africa after pneumococcal acute respiratory infections (3.5%) and tuberculosis (TB) (2.8%). Cases in Africa account for approximately 90% of malaria cases in the world. Between 1994 and 1996, malaria epidemics in 14 countries of sub-Saharan Africa caused an unacceptably high number of deaths, many in areas previously free of the disease. Adolescents and young adults are now dying of severe forms of the disease. Air travel has brought the threat of the disease to the doorsteps of industrialized countries, with an increasing incidence of imported cases and deaths from malaria by visitors to endemic-disease regions.

A number of factors appear to be contributing to the resurgence of malaria: 1) rapid spread of resistance of malaria parasites to chloroquine and the other quinolines; 2) frequent armed conflicts and civil unrest in many countries, forcing large populations to settle under difficult conditions, sometimes in areas of high malaria transmission; 3) migration (for reasons of agriculture, commerce, and trade) of nonimmune populations from nonmalarious and usually high to low parts of the same country where transmission is high; 4) changing rainfall patterns as well as water development projects such as dams and irrigation schemes, which create new mosquito breeding sites; 5) adverse socioeconomic conditions leading to a much reduced health budget and gross inadequacy of funds for drugs; 6) high birth rates leading to a rapid increase in the susceptible population under 5 years of age; 7)changes in the behavior of the vectors, particularly in biting habits, from indoor to outdoor biters.

How to control yourself

The present strategy for malaria control, adopted by the Ministerial Conference on Malaria in Amsterdam in 1992, is to prevent death, reduce illness, and decrease social and economic loss due to the disease . Its practical implementation requires two main tools: first, drugs for early treatment of the disease, management of severe and complicated cases, and prophylactic use on the most vulnerable population (particularly pregnant women); second, insecticide-treated nets for protection against mosquito bites. Each tool has its own problems in regard to field implementation.

April 1

Nigeria: U.s. Supports Malaria Programme With $21m The United States Government has increased its support to Nigeria's Malaria Pro-gramme from $8million for the period between 1999 and 2003 to $21 million for the period between 2004 and 2008. This Day

Nigeria: Council Boss Promises Free Malaria Treatment Chairman, Amuwo-Odofin Local government of Lagos State, Prince Rasheed Adesina Otolorin has pledged the continuity of free medical services in health delivery services for malaria treatment within the area. This Day

March 29

Kenya: Malaria Still Kenya's Biggest Killer Disease Malaria still tops the list of diseases that affect most Kenyans, a new report says. Nation

Gambia: Malaria Death Toll Worrisome The death toll for malaria, as the major killer disease in the sub-Saharan Africa is worrisome, as statistics show increasing rate of the pandemic, and The Gambia without exemption, registered an annual death rate of one thousand for children under the age of five. Independent (Banjul)

Gambia: 'Let's Fight Malaria' - SoS Faal The Secretary of State for Youths and Sports, Samba Faal has urged Gambian youths to rise up and get rid of the menace caused by malaria, the world?s main killer disease. Independent (Banjul)

South Africa [opinion]: Drugs Sector Needs Dose of Courage INDIA's lower house, the Lok Sabha, has just passed patent legislation that will provide protection for innovators that, to date, has been largely lacking. The new rules - which will grant product patents for medicines and other novel technologies - have been heavily criticised by activist organisations such as Mиdicins Sans Frontiйres and Oxfam, which fear it will deny poor people cheap drugs. Business Day

March 28

Nigeria: Intels, Joygirl, SFA, Build Hospital for Aids, Malaria Intels Nigeria Limited, a comprehensive logistic support outfit in Rivers State has partnered with internationally acclaimed singer and President of Support For Africa (SFA) NGO, Patti Boulaye to build a cottage hospital in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital. This Day

March 25

West Africa: Stakeholders Review Anti-Malaria Nets' Success in Abuja Bolstered by the results of household surveys conducted in Nigeria, Ghana, Senegal and Zambia, which indicated a significant rise in the use of Insecticide Treated Bednets (ITNs) in the prevention of malaria, stakeholders have scheduled