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Malaria is caused by a parasite known as protozoan, namely the Plasmodium species( Plasmodium vivax, ovale,malariae,or falciparum).The different symptoms of malaria are caused by the various types of protozoa emerging from the different stages of their life cycle in the human body.
Malaria is transmitted through the bite of the female Anopheles mosquito.The mosquito when feeding on the blood of an infected person will take in the parasites.This will be transmitted to another person when the mosquitoes feed again.
Malaria is characterized by of bouts of chills of 15 to 60 minutes(paroxysms) .This is accompanied by headache, nausea and vomitting .After that, a high fever will develop.These symptoms are due to the destruction of red blood cells by malaria parasites.The interval for paroxysms are different for each species of Plasmodium genus. The paroxysm interval is 48 hours for vivax and ovale, 32-48 for falciparum and 72 for malariae(quartan malaria).Symptoms like malaise, fatigue, nausea, muscular pains, diarrhoea may be experienced.Occasionally , the disease can progress to lethargy, renal or respiratory failure, coma and death.
Malaria is mostly treated with chloroquine.However, resistant strains of protozoa have developed and other drugs like melfoquine,primaquine.A new drug, extracted from the sweet wormwood plant has benn proven to be effective in treating chloroquine-resistant malaria strains.
A vaccine is under development .To prevent getting malaria, protection from biting mosquitos is the only way.This is done by using insect-repellants.mosquito nets or coils and wearing long-sleeved or long trousers when travelling in endemic areas.In addition, malaria prophylaxis can be used by taking chloroquine during course of travel.This will kill off any malaria parasites that have enterd the body.
Malaria comes from the Italian word "mal" meaning bad and "-aria" meaning air.This is because ancient people they can get malaria by entering swwamps and breathing in the swamp gases(bad air).This was wrong because the Anopheles mosquitoes breed in area with stagnant waters, i.e: swamps.
In Africa, there are people with sickle-cell anemia.These people are resistant to Malaria as their red blood cells are sickle--shaped, reducing uptake of potassium which is necessary to the parasites.Hence, killing the parasites.
Malaria was also used to treat syphilis in the past. Patients were inoculated with a type of malaria to produce fevers that would literally burn up the temperature-sensitive syphilis bacteria. After three or four cycles of the fever, the patient was administered quinine for a relatively rapid parasitological cure for the malaria. This treatment was continued until a drug was found to treat syphilis.
