Essay Sample on Causes, Symptoms, Treatment and Prevention of Malaria

Introduction

Malaria is an infectious disease that is usually transmitted by female mosquito anopheles by introducing the bacterial organisms with its saliva through a bite into the circulatory system of a person. The mosquito genus of that transmits malaria is referred to as plasmodium. Vibrantly, there are more than a hundred plasmodium parasite types where each of those types affects different species. Meanwhile, various types of plasmodium parasite reproduce in different rates whole changing the fastness in an escalation of the symptoms as well as the disease severity. Five types of the plasmodium parasite prevalently infect human beings, some having a more severe malaria infection than others (John, 5).

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Causes

Malaria is instigated into the body of a human being after being bitten by a female anopheles’ mosquito that enters the red blood cells and destroys them after a while due to plasmodium infection. Subsequently, development of the plasmodium infection is successfully favored by ambient temperatures and humid weather conditions. After a human host is masticated by a mosquito with an infection, the parasite goes indirectly into the bloodstream and immediately rests in the liver. However, the plasmodium parasitic host shows zero implication of symptoms within the first 10 days where the infection keeps on multiplying during such incubation period. It is after the incubation period when the liver releases the plasmodium parasites into the bloodstream again hence progressing their infection rate to the red blood cells leading to a further multiplication. Inherently, some malaria parasites are said to remain in the liver without circulation until a later recurrence (Tang, 10).

Symptoms

Since malaria symptoms occur without severe organ infection, a doctor gives diagnosing of the infection when the symptoms are present. Unequivocal malaria symptoms typically last in six to ten hours and reappear on the second day. Relevantly, plasmodium parasitotic strains have mixed implications of flu-like symptoms since they are said to be invisible in areas that have fewer malaria issues. In unsophisticated areas, malaria symptoms are said to go through various stages such as coldness, hotness and sweating sensation (Jordi, 200).

Other malaria symptoms include; severe headache, vomiting and fever associated with a shivering sensation, tiredness and seizure especially to the younger people, tiredness followed by a frequent return to normal temperatures, unconsciousness, respiratory distress in association with deep breathtaking, the implication of anemia signs due to abnormal bleeding, and clinical jaundice associated with organ dysfunction in severe malaria (Jordi, 210).

Treatment

The main aim of treating malaria is to eliminate the bacteria from the bloodstream of an infected person. The world health organization advocates for laboratory testing or else through the rapid diagnostic test (RDT). Since there are no symptoms of distinguishing infection from its causes, the parasitological test is essential for the identification and management of malaria epidemic. Relevantly, the World Health Organization (WHO) offers a detailed recommendation of an effective treatment method that incorporates artemisinin-based combination therapy (ACT). The artemisinin is derived from Artemisia annua plant referred to as sweet wormwood. Incorporation of artemisinin helps in reduction of rapid accumulation of the plasmodium parasites in the bloodstream (Jordi, 220).

However, the ACT treatment must contain an effective drug partner in places where having resistance to malaria infection. Thus, the ACT drug is usually combined with a related partner medication to come up with the best curative measure for the malaria infection. Subsequently, the main aim of artemisinin-based combination therapy reduces the number of parasites during the first three days of infection whereas the partner drug enhances elimination of the remaining bacteria from the bloodstream. The application of artemisinin-based combination therapy has been prevalently advocated globally to help in reducing malaria strength even though the disease is becoming resistant to artemisinin-based combination therapy. Alternatively, those that don’t indicate the malaria symptom can also be treated for infection to reduce the disease transmission risk in the population having the infected individual (Jordi, 230).

Prevention

Unequivocally, there are several ways of keeping the malaria infection on halt. Research for developing vaccines globally, making malaria to be contemporarily having at least one licensed vaccine, especially in Europe. Due to lack of effective vaccine in many parts of the world, there have been measures allocated for the prevention of malaria in advance to eliminate a further transmission of the infection. Seeking medical attention in advance after a realization of suspected malaria symptoms is one of the advisable measures in curbing the effect of malaria transmission. Besides, the World Health Organization (WHO), has recently given out some recommendation and medical-related advisory, especially to the travelers (Del, prette, 100). Although malaria is not a major pandemic in the United States, travelling to various countries around the globe entails taking a great risk hence there is a need of taking care and following recommended precautions such as; Find out the kind of the malaria risk that is usually experienced into the country being visited, asking their doctor for the recommended medication that should be used to prevent the malaria infection in the region of visit, acquiring antimalarial drugs before a departure to avoid the risk of purchasing forged drugs while abroad, taking consideration of risk to every travelling individual including pregnant women, children, older people as well as the prevailing medical conditions of other travelers onboard, Being conversant and aware of the malaria symptoms, and Ensuring that the travelling team have access to preventive tools like preventive clothing and other tools that are readily available for purchase in various online websites such as insect repellants, preventive treated bed nets and insecticides (Del, prette, 100).

Alternatively, local health authorities may carry out fumigation to spray the mosquito propagative areas as well as in the households with the effective mosquito repellent and pesticides. Besides, tourists and the inhabitant hosts should avoid the situations places with high susceptibility of being bitten by mosquitoes. Meanwhile, there are several precautions that people should take to prevent mosquito bites such as, staying in air-conditioned rooms, wearing clothes that cover the whole body and avoiding camping close to stagnant water. Top of form bottom of Form Recently, the world health organization has reported that there might be a lack of alternatives to artemisinin where it is likely to become inadequate for several years. Therefore, it is prevalently advocated to have early diagnosis, as a critical preventive and control measure of malaria infection. Thus, anyone implicating signs and symptoms of malaria has to seek for immediate testing for an instant treatment (Del, prette, 100).

Works Cited

John W. Odhiambo, Mbogo, Rachel Waema, Livingstone S. Luboobi, and. "A stochastic model for malaria transmission dynamics." Journal of Applied Mathematics 2018 (2018).

Tang, Shangfeng, et al. "Public awareness of malaria in the middle stage of national malaria elimination programme. A cross-sectional survey in rural areas of malaria-endemic counties, China." Malaria journal 15.1 (2016): 373.

Jordi, Landier, et al. "The role of early detection and treatment in malaria elimination." Malaria Journal 15.1 (2016): 363.

Del Prete, Viola, et al. "Malaria prevention in the older traveller: a systematic review." Journal of travel medicine 26.7 (2019): taz067.