QUESTION: Why is a vaccine against malaria seen as the main hope for the future? ANSWER: This answer is courtesy of a medical doctor assisting us with answering your questions. A vaccine is seen as the great hope for the future because the malaria parasite has an extraordinary talent for developing resistance very rapidly against each class of drug that is introduced into the arsenal … [Read more...]
How can malaria be controlled?
QUESTION: What is malaria? How can it be controlled? ANSWER: Malaria is a disease caused by a single-celled parasite called Plasmodium. There are four species that regularly infect humans: P. falciparum (which causes the most severe form of the disease, and is responsible for 90% of the annual 700,000 fatalities caused by malaria, mainly in Africa), P. vivax, P. ovale and P. malariae. A … [Read more...]
Causes of malaria, treatment with drugs and emerging resistance
QUESTION: What is malaria and what causes it besides bacteria? What is the name of the causal agent for malaria, which drug is used to cure it and how do the pathogens become resistant to the drugs? ANSWER: There are many questions in there! Malaria is actually caused by a single-celled animal, called a protozoan; it's not a bacterial disease. There are different species of these … [Read more...]