For many years the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) have been promoting an Integrated Management of Childhood Illness (IMCI) training package to ensure that nurses and doctors are capable of treating sick children at health facilities. Over the years, with the realization that many children did not have access to health facilities and therefore … [Read more...]
Does malaria spread from a person to another?
QUESTION: Can malaria spread from one person to another? ANSWER: Usually, no. In most cases, the malaria parasite has to first pass from a human host into a mosquito as the mosquito takes a blood meal, and then from the mosquito into another human via the mosquito's saliva. This severely limits the amount of person-to-person transmission that exists. In fact, the only mechanisms for … [Read more...]
What is malaria?
QUESTION: What is malaria? ANSWER: Malaria is a disease caused by parasites of the genus Plasmodium. Transmitted by mosquitoes, there are several different kinds of malaria distributed throughout the tropical and sub-tropical regions of the world, causing somewhere between 300-500 million cases of disease each year, and as many as 1 million deaths. In fact, malaria is one of the biggest … [Read more...]
Treatment for Malaria
QUESTION: How do you treat malaria? ANSWER: Malaria can be treated with a number of different types of medication; which one to use depends on the type of malaria you have, as well as whether resistant strains are known to occur in your area. Below I have copied the response I wrote to a similar question on malaria treatment, posted on the 2nd of May, 2011: In most cases of … [Read more...]
How serious is malaria as a disease?
QUESTION: (In conclusion to an earlier question regarding the seriousness of the disease and the way it is likely to affect population vigour if not controlled) - What can the community, the government, individuals (school children, parent, and teachers) do to improve the situation? ANSWER: The best way to improve the impact that malaria has upon populations afflicted by malaria is to … [Read more...]
Key Malaria Scientists
QUESTION: I would like to know what key scientists are involved with the cure of Malaria. Thanks ANSWER: There are literally hundreds of scientists around the world who are all working on different aspects of curing malaria. The complexity of the life cycle of the parasite means that there are lots of different areas of potential research, and some scientists specialise very precisely on … [Read more...]
Malaria Treatment
QUESTION: What is the proper treatment for people with malaria symptoms? ANSWER: The proper treatment for malaria depends on the type of malaria parasite that the patient is infected with. Therefore, before treatment begins, the patient should be accurately diagnosed. In most cases of non-Plasmodium falciparum malaria (the most deadly form of malaria, found throughout the world but … [Read more...]
What is Malaria?
QUESTION: What is malaria? ANSWER: Malaria is a disease caused by parasites of the genus Plasmodium. Transmitted by mosquitoes, there are several different kinds of malaria distributed throughout the tropical and sub-tropical regions of the world, causing somewhere between 300-500 million cases of disease each year, and as many as 1 million deaths. In fact, malaria is one of the biggest … [Read more...]
Malaria symptoms
QUESTION: When a person is ill he or she will have what symptoms? ANSWER: Malaria can have many different symptoms, but the initial signs are similar to a flu-like illness, with high fever, chills, headache and muscle soreness or aches. A characteristic sign of malaria is cyclical fever, with peaks of severity every two or three days. Additionally, some people will experience nausea, … [Read more...]
Malaria Treatment
QUESTION: Is there any treatment for malaria? ANSWER: Yes, treatment is available for malaria and most cases can be cured easily if diagnosed accurately and early. There are several different drugs that are used to treat malaria, and different modes of ingestion. Most cases of malaria can be treated effectively with oral drugs, usually artemisinin-based combination therapies (which … [Read more...]