Malaria, one of the worlds most deadliest and well known diseases. The
word malaria means bad air in Italian. The disease was so named because it
was thought to be a result of rising swamp gases that got into the air which
caused the disease in humans. But in 1880,Charles Laveran discovered a
protozoal parasite in the blood of an ill patient. There after,in 1898 Ronald
Ross found that the bite of the female Anopheles mosquito transmits the
parasites into the bloodstream. Once in the bloodstream the parasites make
their way to the cells of the liver where they reproduce asexually. After
which,these cells burst and release the parasite back into the bloodstream
where they reproduce asexually and feed on the hemoglobin in the cells.
The red blood cells burst and release both asexual and sexual forms of the
parasite.It is estimated by experts that nearly 300 million people world wide
contract the disease each year with an estimated 2 million deaths. But there
are various groups of humans that have build up a genetic defence against
malaria. Some African and Mediterranean people have altered hemoglobin
genes for which the parasite cannot thrive as easily as it can in other hosts
with normal hemoglobin. Unfortunately people that inherit altered genes
are more apt to contract sickle-cell disease. Though many advancements
have been made in preventing malaria in Africa,the fight is far from over.
Prior to the 1630s there were very few known ways to cure or prevent
malaria,until Spanish missionaries uncovered an extract from the bark of
the cinchona tree which is native to South America. The extract,alkaloid
quinine,or quindine,were the only malarial fighting drugs available during
the first 50 years of the 20th century. Current treatments would be
chloroquine as first choice,or a combination of pyrimethamine and
chloroguanide. The malaria parasite has discovered a resistance against
choroquine, but when used with another drug called desipramine, the
resistance factor is being well challenged. There is another promising drug
that is being researched for the treatment of malaria,such as arteeher, from
the chemical ginghaosu which was derived from a herb called Artemisia.
This herb was discovered by a Chinese chemist and has been used for
hundreds of years by the Chinese to treat malaria and fever.When it comes
to preventing malaria,the best way is to control the cause and spread of the
disease; the mosquito; which is also linked to the spread of yellow fever. So,
first prevent the breeding of mosquitoes by draining off standing water, or
by removing discorded containers that can trap rain water, cut out grass and
underbrush, kill the larvae with oil, nicotin and other chemicals. In order to
control the spread of malaria, people that are infected with the disease
should be placed in a screened in environment to prevent mosquitoes from
spreading the disease from the sick to the healthy.
In other words,prevent mosquitoes from infecting people, prevent people
from infecting mosquitoes.
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