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About Malaria, MAHECAS UK

Malawi Health Care Support UK

UK Registered Charity Number 1057994

Malaria

Malaria carrying Anopheline Mosquito

Malaria is caused by parasites often transmitted in mosquito bites. The entire country is a malaria "at risk" area. The human form of malaria is transmitted by Anopheline mosquitoes.

The parasites [sporozoites] enter the human through the skin along with the mosquitoes saliva. They then infect the red blood cells where they reproduce asexually, and divide into merozoites. The blood cell then raptures releasing the merozoites which go on to infect other red blood cells. The process then repeats itself.

Note that some of the merozoites become gametocytes. These reproduce sexually in the mosquito, (which gets them by biting an infected person). They eventually form the sporozoites which can then repeat infection process in another human.

Malaria can be fatal and is characterized by malarial attacks. These attacks last anything up to 12 hours, and usually start 10-35 days after infection. They start with alternating stages of chills and fever, (up to 105 degrees). This is usually accompanied by severe headaches. As the fever abates, periods of profuse sweating start. Other symptoms include:

Anaemia caused by the destruction of red blood cells/

Enlargement of the spleen

General weakness and debility

Joint pains
With some forms of Malaria relapses are possible, sometimes many years after the original infection.

Malaria is easily diagnosed and there are many effective anti-malarial drugs. Quinine is particularly effective against malaria. Since it is contained in the bark of the cinchona tree, this was often used to treat malaria victims. Synthetic drugs such as chloroquine, parnaquine, pyrimethamine and amodiaquin have since been developed. These can destroy malarial parasites even when inside red blood cells. Recently some more resistant strains of the disease have been spreading.