I was down with malaria for a few days and in this period, I started to ask myself when Nigeria will become a malaria-free country? It's not like it is impossible, as it was in so many countries in the past and today, it looks like the country never had malaria before. It is no doubt that malaria is common currently in tropical regions, and humid areas, thriving in regions such as Southeast Asia, Africa, the Mediterranean, and Central and Southern America but how the United States eradicate malaria is one question in my mind, as I am starting to feel like Malaria is now a part of my life.
The malaria parasite which is plasmodium is carried by the female anopheles mosquito that lays its eggs and breeds in still mashy ponds and swamps. When a mosquito bites a person like me a few days ago that has been infected with the parasite, takes in a small amount of blood. The parasite gets into the mosquito and mates. The parasite then begins to reproduce and grow in the mosquito. According to research, the sporozoite is formed in about a week, and this sporozoite goes to the salivary gland of the mosquito so it can mix with the saliva of the mosquito, and when they decide to take the next delicious blood meal from you or me, I mean those of us who still have malaria in our country, they decide to also gift us those sporozoites as a way of thanking us for allowing them to eat comfortably.
Once the sporozoites get into the body, they head straight to the liver, where it begins to divide and multiply. I must say that the liver is very hospitable because one liver cell can help in the creation of numerous sporozoites. The parasites find their way to the red blood cell and destroy the red blood cell in their quest to grow and reproduce into merozoites. Trust me, this parasite loves to destroy cells because both the liver cells and Red blood cells have suffered the same fate just because it wants to multiply and grow.
The continuous destruction of these cells leads to malaria symptoms which are fever, headache, seizure, or death if the kidney and brain blood vessels have been blocked by the parasite. For me, the symptoms were fever, while still feeling cold at the same time, unending headache muscle pain around the back, and almost red urine. If I had been bitten by another mosquito when I displayed these symptoms and had malaria, then the mosquito carries the pathogen away as a souvenir, to give to someone else.
It wasn't as if the US was free from malaria before. Some say it was brought in by slaves but the fact remains that it was a major concern during the first world war, with cases in millions around the great depression. With this said, it is no doubt that the parasite actually existed in the United state. So the question is How was it eradicated?
If you were asked on how to eradicate malaria, you would suggest the killing of the vector, or the attack on the pathogen. If the entire country is treated against malaria, then it is possible that the vector would not be able to absorb the parasite from healthy people. Another one would be killing all larva and mosquito existing. The United States actually did both, using quinine to treat hundreds of thousands of people at once but this wasn't the solution as it had side effects and the infection came back. The US decided to deal with the larva of the mosquito by eliminating stagnant water, using diesel oil larvacide, and using dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT). In 1946 the CDC was formed with a primary mission of preventing the spread of malaria and getting rid of malaria completely from the US, which actually worked and in 1951, the US was said to be a Malaria free country.
While these process worked in the US, I still ask myself why it has not been translated to other part of the world today. The use of Anti-malaria drugs, insecticides, and net is very common in Africa. Also, scientist have been working on ways to improve the genetic makeup of some set of mosquito so they can breed with the already existing ones to make their offspring sterile, preventing the increased population of mosquito. DDT has somehow been banned from being used to kill mosquito, and in cases where it has to be used, it should be the last resort.
https://www.cdc.gov/museum/history/our-story.html
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5938790/
https://www.msdmanuals.com/professional/multimedia/figure/plasmodium-life-cycle
https://www.cdc.gov/biomonitoring/DDT_FactSheet.html
https://www.cdc.gov/malaria/about/history/elimination_us.html
