Malaria – health hazards & preventive measures

Malaria is a big threat, especially in the developing world. About 300 million people are infected with malaria every year and more than 2 million die annually due to this dreadful disease. This disease is caused by a protozoan parasite Plasmodium.

Laveran discovered the malarial parasite in 1880. But it was Ronald Ross (1887) who confirmed that the disease malaria is caused by the malarial parasite and that mosquito is the vector. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for medicine for this outstanding achievement.

Malaria spreads through the bite of an insect vector called female anopheles mosquito, which feeds on human blood.

Headache, nausea, muscular pains and high fever are the main symptoms of malaria. Malaria progresses in three stages: cold stage (shivering stage), hot stage(faster heart beat and faster respiration with high fever) and sweating stage in which temperature goes down to normal. Enlargement of spleen and liver is a secondary effect of malaria.

The best way to prevent this disease is to prevent mosquito from biting us. Wire-gauze, insect repellents etc may be used. In stagnant water bodies larvivorous fishes which feed on mosquito larvae may be introduced (minnows, trout, gambusia).This is an effective biological control method. Also it is important to destroy mosquito breeding places.

A drug named quinine is mainly used to treat a malaria-infected patient. Quinine is extracted from the bark of the cinchona tree . New and advanced efforts are being made for the development of an antimalarial vaccine.