High
fever caused by an attack of malaria
Malaria is a protozoal disease transmitted by the Anopheles mosquito, caused by minute parasitic protozoa of the genus Plasmodium, which infect human and insect hosts alternatively. It is a very old disease and prehistoric man is thought to have suffered from malaria. It probably originated in Africa and accompanied human migration to the Mediterranean shores, India and South East Asia. In the past it used to be common in the marshy areas around Rome and the name is derived from the Italian, (mal-aria) or "bad air"; it was also known as Roman fever. In French the disease is called " paludisme" which comes from the Latin word for swomp: "palus".
The disease is endemic in some 90 countries in Africa, Asia, Oceanie and Central and South America and in the island of Hispaniola in the Carribean. Throughout the world two billion people or 40 % of the world population is at risk. It is estimated that 300-500 million cases occur each year and in Africa alone more than one million children die from malaria tropica each year. In its socio-economic impact malaria is the most important of all transmissible parasitic diseases. (Click here to see a map with the distrubtion of malaria in the world).
Airport malaria
The so called "airport malaria" has become a problem in recent years. A publican working in an establishment close to London's Heathrow Airport became acutely ill and was found to be suffering from falciparum malaria, he had never been out of the country. A lady driving her car past the same airport became ill with malaria although she too had never been out of the country. Two customs officers working at the Brucargo area at Zaventem airport became infected with malaria and one of them died before the diusease was diagnosed. It is assumed that infected mosquitoes were carried on planes from Africa and released at the destination airport. In general the cabin of airplanes coming from malarious regions should be treated with insecticides before taking off.
High fever caused by an attack of malaria
The parasite
Plasmodium is a haematozoan protozoan parasite belonging to
the order Sporozoa. It is related to other members of the sporozoa,
such as Babesia, Toxoplasma, Coccidia and
Theileria.
Four Plasmodium species are capable of infecting man:
Transmission
The parasites is transmitted byAnopheline mosquitos, haematophagous insects of wich only females take a blood meal (and rarely by congenital transmission, transfusion of infected blood or use of contaminated syringes among drug users).
