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Introduction

The course of the disease

Natural immunity
Vaccines and other forms of prevention
Malaria through history
Evolution of malaria parasites in primates

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World Health Organization - 10 facts on malaria
Mayo Clinic - Malaria
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention - Malaria
Patient - Malaria
WebMD - Malaria: Causes, Symptoms, and Treatment
Cleveland Clinic - Malaria
Nature - Scientific Reports - Malaria
University of Rochester Medical Center - Health Encyclopedia - Malaria
National Center for Biotechnology Information - Malaria
malaria - Children's Encyclopedia (Ages 8-11)
malaria - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up)
Table Of Contents

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malaria , serious relapsing infection in humans, characterized by periodic attacks of chills and fever, anemia , splenomegaly (enlargement of the spleen), and often fatal complications. It is caused by one-celled parasites of the genus Plasmodium that are transmitted to humans by the bite of Anopheles mosquitoes . Malaria can occur in temperate regions, but it is most common in the tropics and subtropics. In many parts of sub-Saharan Africa , entire populations are infected more or less constantly. Malaria is also common in Central America , the northern half of South America , and in South and Southeast Asia . The disease also occurs in countries bordering on the Mediterranean, in the Middle East , and in East Asia . In Europe , North America , and the developed countries of East Asia , malaria is still encountered in travelers arriving or returning from affected tropical zones.

In the early 21st century the incidence of malaria, and the number of deaths caused by the disease, appeared to be declining. For example, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimated that in 2000 there were 233 million cases of malaria worldwide, which resulted in roughly 985,000 deaths, mostly of young children in Africa. In 2010 there were an estimated 216 million cases and 655,000 deaths. By 2018, cases had increased to 228 million worldwide, though deaths had continued to decline, numbering about 405,000 that year.

In 2021 China became the 40th country to be officially declared free of malaria by WHO—by far the most populous country worldwide to have been granted the designation . China had not experienced any indigenous cases for three years in a row, the qualification required to achieve WHO’s malaria-free certification.

Malaria in humans is caused by five related protozoan (single-celled) parasites: Plasmodium falciparum , P. vivax , P. ovale , P. malariae , and P. knowlesi . The most common worldwide is P. vivax . The deadliest is P. falciparum . In 2008 P. knowlesi , which was thought to infect primarily Old World monkeys and to occur only rarely in humans, was identified as a major cause of malaria in humans in Southeast Asia , accounting for as many as 70 percent of cases in some areas. P. knowlesi was found to be easily confused with P. malariae during microscopic examination, resulting in many cases being attributed to P. malariae when in fact they may have been caused by P. knowlesi .

Plasmodium parasites are spread by the bite of infected female Anopheles mosquitoes, which feed on human blood in order to nourish their own eggs. While taking its meal (usually between dusk and dawn), an infected mosquito injects immature forms of the parasite, called sporozoites , into the person’s bloodstream. The sporozoites are carried by the blood to the liver , where they mature into forms known as schizonts . Over the next one to two weeks each schizont multiplies into thousands of other forms known as merozoites . The merozoites break out of the liver and reenter the bloodstream, where they invade red blood cells, grow and divide further, and destroy the blood cells in the process. The interval between invasion of a blood cell and rupture of that cell by the next generation of merozoites is about 48 hours for P. falciparum , P. vivax , and P. ovale . In P. malariae the cycle is 72 hours long. P. knowlesi has the shortest life cycle—24 hours—of the known human Plasmodium pathogens, and thus parasites rupture daily from infected blood cells.

Most merozoites reproduce asexually—that is, by making identical copies of themselves rather than by mixing the genetic material of their parents. A few, however, develop into a sexual stage known as a gametocyte . These will mate only when they enter the gut of another mosquito that bites the infected person. Mating between gametocytes produces embryonic forms called ookinetes; these embed themselves in the mosquito’s gut, where they mature after 9 to 14 days into oocysts , which in turn break open and release thousands of sporozoites that migrate to the insect’s salivary glands , ready to infect the next person in the cycle.

Typically, victims who are bitten by malaria -carrying mosquitoes experience no symptoms until 10 to 28 days after infection. The first clinical signs may be any combination of chills, fever , headache , muscle ache, nausea , vomiting , diarrhea , and abdominal cramps . Chills and fever occur in periodic attacks; these last 4 to 10 hours and consist first of a stage of shaking and chills, then a stage of fever and severe headache, and finally a stage of profuse sweating during which the temperature drops back to normal. Between attacks the temperature may be normal or below normal. The classic attack cycles, recurring at intervals of 48 hours (in so-called tertian malaria) or 72 hours ( quartan malaria), coincide with the synchronized release of each new generation of merozoites into the bloodstream. Often, however, a victim may be infected with different species of parasites at the same time or may have different generations of the same species being released out of synchrony—in which case the classic two- or three-day pattern may be replaced by more frequent rigours of chills, fever, and sweating. The parasites continue to multiply—unless the victim is treated with appropriate drugs or dies in the interim .

Besides attacks, persons with malaria commonly have anemia (owing to the destruction of red blood cells by the parasites), enlargement of the spleen (the organ responsible for ridding the body of degenerate red blood cells), and general weakness and debility. Infections due to P. falciparum are by far the most dangerous. Victims of this “ malignant tertian” form of the disease may deteriorate rapidly from mild symptoms to coma and death unless they are diagnosed and treated promptly and properly. The greater virulence of P. falciparum is associated with its tendency to infect a large proportion of the red blood cells; patients infected with that species will exhibit ten times the number of parasites per cubic millimetre of blood than patients infected with the other three malaria species. In addition, red blood cells infected with P. falciparum have a special tendency to adhere to the walls of the tiniest blood vessels, or capillaries . This results in obstruction of the blood flow in various organs, but the consequences are gravest when capillaries in the brain are affected, as they often are. It is this latter complication—known as cerebral malaria and manifested by confusion, convulsions, and coma—that frequently kills victims of P. falciparum malaria. Several strains of P. falciparum have developed that are resistant to some of the drugs used to treat or prevent malaria.

Infections of P. vivax and P. ovale differ from the other two types of malaria in that some of the sporozoites may remain dormant in the liver in a “ hypnozoite” stage for months or even years before emerging to attack red blood cells and cause a relapse of the disease.

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Malaria Essay Examples

The impact of malaria disease on africa.

The “Villain in Africa”, otherwise known as Plasmodium or Malaria, is a parasite that affects nearly every continent. This horrific disease kills around one million to two million people each year. The majority of these victims are children in the Saharan parts of Africa. Mosquitos...

The Study Ofthe End of the Malaria-carrying Mosquitoes

Extinction of a species is often thought to be something negative and should be prevented at all costs, but what if we’re talking about the extinction of a “bad” species such as the malaria-carrying mosquitoes, Anopheles gambiae?Malaria is a disease caused by a parasite which...

Insecticides Resistance and Underlying Biological Mechanisms Which Aggravate the Burden of Malaria in Developing Countries

Despite considerable success of malaria control programme in the past, malaria still continues as a major public health problem. The malaria control relies mainly on indoor residual spraying of insecticides, which has become an inspiring fear task due to widespread resistance in malaria vectors, however,...

Crispr Technology as a Solution to Malaria Prevention

Malaria, a disease that is a transmitted person to person through an infected mosquito carrying the gene that allows for the parasite carrying the virus to exist. From a bar graph by Our World In Data, since 2015, about 395, 000 people have died in...

Youyou Tu – a Woman Who Made a Breakthrough in Malaria Treatment

The first women ever to win a Nobel prize in any discipline for China, a brilliant mind, and a crucial discovery in which would ultimately lead to lives saved and a brighter future where we can stand up to Malaria and fight it off. Youyou...

The Correlation Between Food Insecurity and Malaria in Haiti

Over half of Haiti’s population lives in extreme poverty, making it one of the most food insecure countries in the world. Vector-borne diseases that are being spread and transmitted through mosquitos are becoming a public health crisis across the globe. This is especially true in...

Mosquito Borne-diseases and Their Management

Mosquitoes are known as one of the fatal living organisms in the world acting as vectors (living organisms that can transmit infectious diseases between humans or from animals to humans) for different diseases. Their ability to transmit and disseminate disease to humans causes millions of...

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