MALARIA FACTS
- Malaria is an infectious disease transmitted by bites from female mosquitoes that carry the protozoan parasites of malaria.
- When an infected mosquito pierces a person's skin to take a blood meal, the sporozoites in the mosquito's saliva enter the bloodstream and migrate to the liver. The parasite is relatively protected from attack by the body's immune system because for most of its human life cycle it resides within the liver and blood cells and is relatively invisible to immune surveillance.
- By the time the human immune system learns to recognize the protein and starts making antibodies against it, the parasite has switched to another form of the protein, making it difficult for the immune system to keep up.
Anopheles is a genus of mosquito (Culicidae). There are approximately 400 Anopheles species, of which 30-40 transmit five different species of parasites of the genus Plasmodium that cause Malaria which affects humans in endemic areas. Anopheles gambiae is one of the best known, because of its predominant role in the transmission of the most dangerous Plasmodiun falciparum. |
| Anopheles stephensi |
Anopheles gambiae |
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The countries with the highest rate of infection generally can be found globally along the equatorial belt because the warmer and more humid the climate the larger the mosquito population.
One in five (20%) of all childhood deaths in Africa are due to malaria. It is estimated that an African child has on average between 1.6 and 5.4 episodes of malaria fever each year. Every 30 seconds a child dies from malaria in Africa.
- Malaria is both preventable and curable.
- A child dies of malaria every 30 seconds.
- There are an estimated 247 million cases among 3.3 billion people at risk in 2006, causing nearly a million deaths, mostly of children under 5 years.
The causative pathogen is a protozoan parasite of the genus Plasmodium.
Five species of Plasmodium can produce the disease in its various forms:
- Plasmodium vivax
- Plasmodium ovale
- Plasmodium malariae
- Plasmodium knowlesi (restricted transmission in SE Asia, significance unclear)
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| Of the five malaria species, P. falciparum is the most widespread and most fatal. |
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