Malaria is a febrile illness characterised by fever and related symptoms. However it is very important to remember that malaria is not a simple disease of fever, chills and rigors. In fact, in a malarious area, it can present with such varied and dramatic manifestations that malaria may have to…
The most pronounced changes related to malaria involve the blood and the blood-forming system, the spleen and the liver. Secondary changes can occur in all the other major organs, depending on the type and severity of the infection. The pathological changes are more profound and severe in case of P.…
During its complex, multi-stage life cycle, the malaria parasite not only expresses a great variety of proteins at different stages, but these proteins also keep changing often. As a result, a natural infection with malaria parasites leads to of only a partial and short lived immunity that is unable to…
All the manifestations of malarial illness are caused by the infection of the red blood cells by the asexual forms of the malaria parasite and the involvement of the red cells makes malaria a potentially multisystem disease, as every organ of the body is reached by the blood.[1,2] All types…
Malaria has troubled mankind for millennia. Before Ronald Ross’s proof, the dreaded disease was attributed to supernatural influences such as angered deities, evil spirits, or the black magic of sorcerers. Later on, with the observations that malaria occurred more often near the water logged areas, it was attributed to miasmata…
The malaria parasite has a complex, multistage life cycle occurring within two living beings, the vector mosquitoes and the vertebrate hosts. The survival and development of the parasite within the invertebrate and vertebrate hosts, in intracellular and extracellular environments, is made possible by a toolkit of more than 5,000 genes…
Malaria is transmitted from man to man by the female anopheles mosquito, one of the most capable vectors of human disease. Various species have been found to be the vectors in different parts of the world. A. gambiae complex is the chief vector in Africa and A. freeborni in N.…
Malaria is caused by protozoan parasites called Plasmodia, belonging to the parasitic phylum Apicomplexa. More than 200 species of the genus Plasmodium (=plasma + eidos, form) have been identified that are parasitic to reptiles, birds, and mammals.[1] Four Plasmodium species have been well known to cause human malaria, namely, P.…
These definitions and indices are important in epidemiological surveillance and in planning the control strategy for malaria. Endemic Malaria: Constant incidence over a period of many successive years in an area. Epidemic Malaria: Periodic or occasional sharp increase of malaria in a given indigenous community. Stable Malaria: Amount of transmission…
Mangaluru (formerly Mangalore) is a picturesque city in Southern India, on the shore of the Arabian Sea. It is the headquarters of Dakshina Kannada district. The population of Mangalore City Corporation is recorded as 4,99,487 in the 2011 Census. Known for hundreds of rivers and rivulets and plenty of coconut…
