08/10/26 11:28:46
The poor People's Disease
Malaria is an infectious disease that is widespread in the tropical and subtropical parts of the world.
Over 40 percent of the world's population lives in areas where malaria is found.
More than 300 million people suffer from malaria, and about one and a half million people die from it each year.
At least 80 percent of malaria sufferers live in Africa, where the disease is the cause of 30 percent of admissions to hospitals.
Pregnant women and children under five are the most vulnerable, and at least 800,000 African children die from malaria every year.
The economic cost of malaria to Africa is estimated to be US＄12 billion a year, though it is difficult to get exact figures.
Malaria is caused by a parasite.
A parasite is a plant or animal that lives in or on the body of another animal or plant and obtains its food from it.
It is thought that the malaria parasite evolved with humans and has always been with us.
The parasite is carried by the female of a particular genus of mosquito called the Anopheles.
The disease is transmitted when an infected person is bitten by a female Anopheles mosquito which then bites another person.
The parasite in the blood of the first person is taken in by the mosquito, survives in the mosquito's saliva, and is then transferred to the blood of the second person.
The parasite is then carried in the blood to the liver, where it breeds.
After a few days it returns to the blood, where it attacks red blood cells, causing fever and perhaps damage to vital organs, sometimes resulting in death.
Malaria can usually be cured.
In particularly bad areas, people continuously become infected and gradually become immune to the disease.
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