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The Spread and Prevention of Malaria


            Drug-resistant bacterial infections pose a significant challenge to public health and sometimes can lead to fatal consequences. Malaria is frequently regarded as one of the world's deadliest tropical parasitic diseases. It claims more lives than any other communicable disease except tuberculosis.
             Malaria is a mosquito-borne disease caused by protists (a type of microorganism) of the genus Plasmodium. It is transmitted via infected female Anopheles mosquito bites, which introduces the protists through its saliva into the circulatory system. From there it makes its way through the body with the help of the blood and travels to the liver to mature and reproduce.1 In the recent years, most cases of malaria that have been found in the U.S. as well as in other first world countries, have been found in people that have contracted the disease after travelling to tropical and sub tropical areas, including Asia, South America and Sub-Saharan Africa. 2.
             In 2010, the World Health Organisation estimated that there were about 219 million documented cases of malaria spread worldwide. That same year, it was reported that between 660,000 and 1.2 million people had died from this disease, of which the vast majority were children in Africa. Other groups that are constantly at risk include refuges, foreign travelers, pregnant women as well as laborers that enter the endemic areas.3 .
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             Fig1: Distribution of Malaria Around the World .
             Malaria, however, is a curable disease if it is promptly diagnosed and is adequately treated. Vaccines for malaria are under development. However, there are no completely effective vaccines yet available. Though, there are several antimalarial medications that are available to prevent malaria for travelers that go to malaria-epidemic countries. In severe cases malaria used to only be treated with intravenous and intramuscular quinine.


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