The cause of Malaria and its progress

So far we have managed to understand what malaria is and the prevalence around the world. In this week's blog my focus will be more about the cause of the disease, its progression and the contributors for its mortality and morbidity.  Just as a reminder, malaria disease is caused by plasmodium bacteria species that are usually transmitted by anopheline mosquitoes. As the mosquito feed on human blood, it leaves behind traces of the bacteria in the human blood which then causes malaria when the parasites multiply in the erythrocytes. The video below gives a good explanation of the disease:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMNmOsl5_e4

When one gets infected with the parasite, the symptoms do not show immediately and it might take around 7- 14 days for the symptoms to show. This is what is known as incubation period which later leads to symptoms showing like headache, fever, malaise, sweating, chills, nausea and vomiting which may be confused with other diseases like flu which has almost similar symptoms. To test for malaria a blood sample is sent to the lab to perform a smear and confirm which parasite has infected the patient (state government of Victoria n.d.)

http://enihealthcare.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/malaria-symptoms1.gif

 

 

 

According to the World Health Organization, if the disease is not treated the symptoms may progress to become serious illness like severe anemia, respiratory distress or even cerebral malaria which shows critical infection. It might also lead to death which is during severe cases when medications are not taken. This always is the scenario in the sub - Saharan countries when the disease strikes the people do not get medicated in time which leads to many deaths happening. Acting faster once the symptoms is the best way to avoid deaths and getting tested is always the best choice to make sure treatment is provided. 

CITATIONS

Infectious diseases epidemiology and surveillance. (n.d.). Retrieved April 23, 2015, from http://ideas.health.vic.gov.au/bluebook/malaria.asp

Malaria. (n.d.). Retrieved April 23, 2015, from http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs094/en/

Malaria epidemiology

In this week's blog my focus will be on the epidemiology data of malaria in the last five years and its distribution. The blog will explain how much the disease has spread and how it is contained in different parts of the world. For example in the United States like i said in last week's blog, they have been able to contain it which leaves other countries vulnerable to the disease.

According to the world health organization (2014), there was around 198 million cases of malaria in the year 2013 with estimated deaths of 384,000. This data indicates that although some countries are far ahead in containing the disease, some other countries are yet to meet that goal. A good example is Africa where a child dies every minute from malaria. In my first blog i used myself as an example of how sick i was with malaria for a couple of times. In my country there are a lot of mosquitoes which unless one has a mosquito net there is a guarantee that one will get bitten by it at night. Due to the bad state of the country's economy, it has been so hard to eradicate the disease and the best thing that the government does is to give free mosquito nets that helps provide protection while sleeping. The video below has a section showing what a mosquito net is for those who might not understand. It also gives some statistics about the disease prevalence. 

 

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwYIyjwYluc#t=66   

The most vulnerable groups to malaria are the pregnant women who are known to have low immunity because malaria can cause miscarriages or even maternal deaths Also, small children under 5 years who do not have enough protective immunity are at a high risk (WHO 2014). In the United States like I wrote last week malaria has been contained meaning that it is not endemic like it is in other sub-Saharan countries. The only focus in the united state is to ensure that travelers are well educated on how to prevent themselves from contracting the disease. They first check with the government if the country they are visiting is at a higher risk of malaria then pre medicate before visiting the place which helps to prevent contracting the infection. (CDC 2015).

CITATIONS

Malaria. (n.d.). Retrieved April 22, 2015, from http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs094/en/

 Malaria and Travelers. (2015, February 3). Retrieved April 23, 2015, from http://www.cdc.gov/malaria/travelers/index.html