Driving down the road this week in Conakry, the capital city of Guinea, I saw large banners highlighting World Malaria Day on April 25. Guinea, sandwiched between Mali, Senegal, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea Bissau in West Africa, is one of the poorest countries in the world and is also hyper-endemic for malaria. It experienced an estimated 4.79 million cases in 2016, out of a total population … [Read more...]
Where is malaria found?
QUESTION Where is malaria found? ANSWER Malaria is found throughout the world’s tropical and sub-tropical areas, and mainly in Central and South America, Africa, Asia and the Indo-Pacific region. It is most common in tropical regions, where transmission occurs year-round; in sub-tropical and temperate areas, transmission may only occur during seasons that have appropriate climatic … [Read more...]
Malaria Deaths 2x Greater than Previously Reported
Malaria is killing more people worldwide than previously thought, but the number of deaths has fallen rapidly as efforts to combat the disease have ramped up, according to new research from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington. More than 1.2 million people died from malaria worldwide in 2010, twice the number found in the most recent … [Read more...]
Counterfeit Anitmalarial Drugs Threaten Crisis in Africa
Hopes of at last controlling malaria in Africa could be dashed by the emergence of poor-quality and fraudulent antimalarial medicines, warn experts writing in Malaria Journal. Unless urgent action is taken both within Africa and internationally, they argue, millions of lives could be put at risk. … [Read more...]
Why is malaria dangerous?
QUESTION Why is malaria dangerous? ANSWER Malaria is dangerous because if left untreated, it can be deadly. This is particularly true of Plasmodium falciparum, which can rapidly escalate into severe disease with cerebral (brain) complications. However, other forms of malaria, such as P. vivax and P. knowlesi, can also be fatal if untreated. The people most at risk from severe malaria … [Read more...]
Does malaria kill?
QUESTION Is malaria a killer disease? ANSWER Yes. Malaria causes somewhere between 700,000 to 1 million deaths worldwide, mostly in children under five, and mostly in sub-Saharan Africa. As such, it is actually one of the leading causes of death in young children in developing countries. Given this high mortality, many initiatives working to control malaria are dedicated to reducing … [Read more...]
Why do people die of malaria?
QUESTION: Why is it that people die of malaria? ANSWER: The symptoms of malaria are caused by the malaria parasite reproducing inside the patient's red blood cells and eventually destroying them. In this process, the malaria parasites also produce toxic waste chemicals and debris which build up in the patient's blood stream. The body produces a strong immune response as a reaction to … [Read more...]
Cases of Malaria
QUESTION: What are reasons for the increasing number of cases of malaria? ANSWER: As I recently wrote in answer to another Q&A post, it is difficult to determine whether cases of malaria are indeed increasing or not. For one, a large number of cases are not reported every year, making accurate estimates difficult. Secondly, the world's population is growing, and it is growing at the … [Read more...]
Malaria Trend and Forecast
QUESTION: What is the trend of malaria infection and its forecasted figure? … [Read more...]
Can malaria kill you?
QUESTION: Can malaria kill you? ANSWER: YES! Malaria, especially of the kind caused by Plasmodium falciparum parasites, can be an extremely severe illness and even deadly. Somewhere between 700,000 and 1 million people die of malaria every year, and the majority of these are children under the age of five years old, which is the age group most susceptible to severe malaria attacks. … [Read more...]