Strides in medicine have contributed to a dramatic increase in life expectancy over the last century. Diseases like HIV and cervical cancer that were essentially death sentences as recently as 30 years ago can now be managed ...
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Sudan's Health Ministry says at least seven people have died from a cholera outbreak over the past three weeks in a southeastern province.
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Kenya on Friday became the third country to start routinely innoculating infants against malaria, using the world's first vaccine to combat a disease that kills 800 children globally every day.
Sep 13, 2019
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NASA is developing a new technique to forecast malaria outbreaks in Myanmar from space, as the emergence of new drug-resistant strains in Southeast Asia threatens efforts to wipe out the deadly disease globally.
Sep 10, 2019
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University of Alberta researchers have developed a user-friendly dengue test that could help diagnose the growing tropical disease more quickly and efficiently.
Sep 10, 2019
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QIMR Berghofer researchers have identified a key driver of the aggressive gut disorder, Crohn's disease, a finding that could eventually lead to new treatments for the often-debilitating condition.
Sep 12, 2019
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A future free of malaria, one of the world's oldest and deadliest diseases, can be achieved as early as 2050, according to a new report published today by The Lancet Commission on malaria eradication.
Sep 09, 2019
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Malaria infection is linked with a 30% raised risk of heart failure, according to a small study presented today at ESC Congress 2019 together with the World Congress of Cardiology.
Sep 02, 2019
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Researchers at the University of Bristol and Imperial College London have established a new model system that uses red blood cells grown in the laboratory to study how malaria parasites invade red blood cells.
Aug 29, 2019
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Immunological signatures can predict whether malaria-infected children will develop fever or other symptoms, suggests a study publishing September 3 in the journal Immunity. Surprisingly, activation of the well-known tumor-suppressor ...
Sep 03, 2019
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Each year there are more than 200 million cases of malaria worldwide, a mosquito-borne disease caused by a parasite that brings on fever and body aches and, in some cases, more serious conditions such as coma and death. While ...
Aug 19, 2019
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In the first continent-wide genomic study of malaria parasites in Africa, scientists have uncovered the genetic features of Plasmodium falciparum parasites that inhabit different regions of the continent, including the genetic ...
Aug 22, 2019
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The World Health Organization says it's theoretically possible to wipe out malaria, but probably not with the imperfect vaccine and other control methods being used at the moment.
Aug 23, 2019
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Breakthrough research has revealed a new drug that may prevent the spread of malaria, and also treat people suffering with the deadly parasitic disease.
Aug 30, 2019
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A new report from the World Health Organization says initial results from a five-year study into the efficacy of spatial repellents encourage further research into their potential impact to reduce infection of vector-borne ...
Aug 30, 2019
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Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease of humans and other animals caused by eukaryotic protists of the genus Plasmodium. The disease results from the multiplication of Plasmodium parasites within red blood cells, causing symptoms that typically include fever and headache, in severe cases progressing to coma or death. It is widespread in tropical and subtropical regions, including much of Sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, and the Americas.
Five species of Plasmodium can infect and be transmitted by humans. Severe disease is largely caused by Plasmodium falciparum while the disease caused by Plasmodium vivax, Plasmodium ovale, and Plasmodium malariae is generally a milder disease that is rarely fatal. Plasmodium knowlesi is a zoonosis that causes malaria in macaques but can also infect humans.
Malaria transmission can be reduced by preventing mosquito bites by distribution of mosquito nets and insect repellents, or by mosquito-control measures such as spraying insecticides and draining standing water (where mosquitoes breed). Despite a clear need, no vaccine offering a high level of protection currently exists. Efforts to develop one are ongoing. A number of medications are also available to prevent malaria in travelers to malaria-endemic countries (prophylaxis).
A variety of antimalarial medications are available. Severe malaria is treated with intravenous or intramuscular quinine or, since the mid-2000s, the artemisinin derivative artesunate, which is superior to quinine in both children and adults. Resistance has developed to several antimalarial drugs, most notably chloroquine.
There were an estimated 225 million cases of malaria worldwide in 2009. An estimated 655,000 people died from malaria in 2010, a 5% decrease from the 781,000 who died in 2009 according to the World Health Organization's 2011 World Malaria Report, accounting for 2.23% of deaths worldwide. Ninety percent of malaria-related deaths occur in sub-Saharan Africa, with ~60% of deaths being young children under the age of five. Plasmodium falciparum, the most severe form of malaria, is responsible for the vast majority of deaths associated with the disease. Malaria is commonly associated with poverty, and can indeed be a cause of poverty and a major hindrance to economic development.
This text uses material from Wikipedia licensed under CC BY-SA
