In Nigeria, one of the major sicknesses that affect everyone is malaria, four out of five cases of simple fever in a Nigerian home is triggered by malaria, and taking the time to learn about this problem that has been existing for years without eradication in some countries, should be studied.
Malaria has been discovered to be amongst the world's worst leading scourges, the disease is caused by a parasite and transmitted through mosquitoes, in 2016, this disease was found to have infected about 194 million people in Africa and caused 445,000 death cases. To think that, in 1951, there was a criteria eradication by the National Society. which says;
'' Malaria may be assumed to be no longer endemic in any given area when no primary indigenous case has occurred there for three years''.
Since then, elimination has evolved a bit and the term elimination is used when cases of malaria transmission are no longer heard.
In the 18th century, Finland was a major center for Malaria, before it began to slowly go away without any strict measures.
Indigenous malaria that exists in Finland faded out in the entire country evenly with limited or no counter medications. Malaria in Finland was a social disease and malaria trends were linked strongly to the changes in human behavior. The decreased size of households gave room for lower interactions between families and decrease accordingly, the recolonization possibilities for Plasmodium.
Humans get infected through a small inoculum parody available in the salivary gland of the blood-feeding Anopheles mosquito. The sporozoites get to penetrate the liver cell, and then it multiplies to produce thousands of free merozoites. Each existing asexual merozoite will invade a red blood cell, completing another phase of multiplication, and then bursting the cell, when the cell is burst, within 8-32 more merozoites are released to invade red blood cells. These asexual blood cycles could be repeated severally and during the course, some invading merozoites may rather develop into the sexual, nonreplicating transmissible stages that are known as gametocytes. In the case of viable gametocytes of each sex, they are taken up by an Anopheles that is feeding, fertilization may form the zygotes from where the infective sporozoites may arise.
The first mathematical model of malaria transmission was developed by Ross in 1910, his model gave birth to other several conclusions that his contemporaries found absurd. There was a partial conclusion derived from some of these hypotheses, that there is no need to banish Anopheles entirely, their numbers only have to be reduced.
Indigenous malaria in Finland emerged again, and an effort was made aimed to be able to evaluate the significance of different factors that are assumed to affect malaria trends. From their result, Anopheles messeae and Anopheles beklemishevi exist only as larvae in June and most of July, the female gender of these mosquitoes seek an overwintering place in August.
According to the article published, by World Malaria Reports (WMR), at the beginning of 2016, malaria was the most endemic in 91 countries and territories. Despite the significant process, malaria keeps playing a heavy toll on the world, and by 2015, the world had 212 million cases of malaria occurring globally, resulting in 429,000 deaths majorly affecting children in Africa who are under the age of five (5). It is surprising to know that, over 100 countries have been able to eliminate malaria in the past century. Since 2000, more countries have been able to eliminate malaria from their country, from that year, 12 countries have eliminated malaria, and four(4) out of the twelve (12) countries were certified by WHO between 2007-2013. It is also believed by WHO that 21 countries are in a position of achieving at least one year of zero indigenous cases of malaria by 2020.
People who get malaria become very sick with shaking chills, high fevers, and flu-like illnesses. Four kinds of malaria parasites infect humans, we have; Plasmodium falciparum, P. vivax, P. ovale, and P. malariae. There is however an addition of P. knowlesi, which is a malaria that infects macaques naturally in Southeast Asia. About 2,000 cases of malaria are diagnosed in the United States each year, and the majority of the case in the United States are usually immigrants and travelers that have migrated or returned from other parts of the world.
Malaria is also spread after humans have been bitten by a female Anopheles Mosquito, which is usually the only mosquito that can transmit malaria, that is after they must be infected by a blood meal from an infected human. The malaria parasite is found in the red blood cells of an infected person, it can also be transmitted through organ transplant, blood transfusion, and shared needle that contains blood. Malaria can also be transferred from a mother to her unborn child before or during delivery, it is this type of malaria that is called congenital malaria. Anyone can get malaria, most cases occur in people who live in countries with malaria transmission.
Plasmodium falciparum is the malaria type that usually causes serious life-threatening malaria, this parasite is highly common in countries in Africa south of the Sahara desert. Those with low immune systems like young children, and pregnant women are at more risk, travelers who come from a region where there is no malaria could also get bitten, sick and die. Poor people who also live in rural regions and lack access to health care stand a high chance of getting infected with the disease.
In so many cases, symptoms of malaria infection begin 10 days to 4 weeks, although a person may feel ill as early as 7 days or as late as one year, there is also a possibility of having relapsing malaria, which are P. vivax and P. ovale which can re-occur after being treated initially. Do you also know that some parasites could stay dormant in the liver for several months up until 4 years after there has been a bite by the mosquito?
Buying random malaria medications has so many risks associated with it, first, the drug may be of low quality as a result of its production, secondly, the drug could contain contaminants or they could be counterfeit drugs therefore not providing your body with the required protection against malaria. It is safe to always speak to a medical expert before proceeding to take any medication.
