Malaria

2 Pages 534 Words

Malaria is a serious, infectious disease spread by mosquitoes. It is most common in tropical climates. It is characterized by recurrent symptoms of chills, fever, and an enlarged spleen. The disease can be treated with medication, but it often recurs. Malaria is endemic (occurs frequently in a particular locality) in many third world countries. Isolated, small outbreaks sometimes occur within the boundaries of the United States.
Malaria is not a serious problem in the United States. While malaria can be transmitted in blood, the American blood supply is not screened for malaria. Widespread malarial epidemics are far less likely to occur in the United States, but small, localized epidemics cloud return to the western world.
Malaria infects between 300 and 500 million people every year in Africa, India, southeast Asia, the Middle East, Oceania, and Central and South America. About 2 million of the infected die each year. At the present time, malaria kills about twice as many people as does AIDS. The spread of malaria is becoming even more serious as the parasites that cause malaria develop resistance to the drugs used to treat the condition.
A person gets malaria when bitten by a female mosquito who is looking for a blood meal and is infected with the malaria parasite. It is also possible to spread malaria via contaminated needles or in blood transfusions. Malaria cannot be casually transmitted directly from one person to another.
The primary symptom of all types of malaria is the "malaria ague" (chills and fever). The fever has three stages, beginning with uncontrollable shivering, followed by a rapid spike in temperature. Then, just as suddenly, the patient begins to sweat profusely, which will quickly bring down the fever. Other symptoms may include fatigue, severe headache, or nausea and vomiting. Falciparum malaria is far more severe than other types of malaria because the parasite attacks all red blood cells, not just the you...