Malaria By Mr. Shannon

Malaria: Symptoms Typical symptoms of malaria include fever, chills, vomiting, and anemia. Severe cases of malaria can occur quickly (over the course of a few days) and even result in death.

Malaria: Transmission Malaria is transmitted by certain types of mosquitoes. Infected mosquitoes bite people and pass on the malaria parasite into the human’s bloodstream. The parasite then lives and reproduces in the liver and red blood cells of the infected person.

Malaria Malaria sickness is caused by the malaria parasite, a tiny one-celled animal known as a “protist.” There are four species of the malaria parasite: Plasmodium falciparum, Plasmodium vivax, Plasmodium ovale, and Plasmodium malariae. Plasmodium falciparum is by far the most common type of malaria parasite.

Malaria This is a photograph taken with a microscope of the malaria parasite swimming through the cytoplasm of a cell

Malaria: Prevalence Malaria is most common in developing countries in which many poor people live. Malaria is also common in tropical climates along the equator, as these are the best for the mosquitoes that carry the parasite to live in. The most cases of malaria are seen on the continent of Africa, but malaria is also very common in Mexico, India, China, and Southeast Asia.

Malaria: Treatment Malaria can be prevented by taking drugs such as lariam and mephloquine, which kill the parasite if a person is bitten by an infected mosquito. These drugs can also be used to treat malaria once a person is already infected. Other methods of preventing transmission of malaria include the use of bed nets, which keep sleeping people from being bitten at night by mosquitoes carrying the parasite.

Analysis The best way to solve the problem of malaria is to focus on prevention strategies. In other words, it is much easier to prevent people from getting malaria than to treat it once they have it. Prevention strategies include the use of bed nets to prevent mosquito bites, the use of drugs before getting malaria, and the draining of shallow areas of water where mosquitoes breed.

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