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The disease is spread by a parasite which lives within mosquitos.
It is commonly occur in tropical and warm countries.
Malaria can be fatal, but you can protect yourself and your loved ones by following the recommended guidelines provided by the experts and physician.
By Mahmood Hussain, Monday 24th June 2019, the article is written for www.babyfirst.com.pk BABY FIRST PAKISTAN and on Facebook.babyfirstPakistan and other social media such as LinkedIn, Twitter and so on. Writer Mahmood Hussain is from Karachi Pakistan.
Ways to protect yourself from Malaria.
- Sleep under net. During the summer season sleeping outside and in open area is exciting but at the same time chances are more likely to be bitten by mosquito.
- Stay away from standing water such as pond, lakes or swimming pool.
- For good sleep it is important to choose a place which is covered and cooler such as air conditioned. Mosquitoes avoid cool places. They thrive in hot and humid places.
- Cover the door and widows with net.
- Use mosquito net if sleeping in open area. Make sure there are no holes in the net and also spray insecticide in the net
- Cover up your skin in hot summer, wear long sleeves and loose trouser.
- Use insect repellent containing DEET.
- Use antimalarial tablet as advice by the doctor.
Sign and symptoms of Malaria
First sign of malaria, its start with the shivering and chills. Later the patient will have high grade fever followed by sweating, later on the body temperature returns to normal. Secondly symptoms may return back after few days (relapse)
When malaria symptom appear it resembles like flu with high grade fever, body ache and sever / vigorous shivering. Within children the sign and symptom of malaria are not very specific and this lead towards delay in diagnosis and this result in initiating the specific recommended treatment.
People suffering from malaria may also have headache, nausea, rigorous chill feeling and weakness.
Out of 194 countries globally, 107 countries are endemic to malaria. They are mostly the underdeveloped countries.
If we look into the past era and the beginning of this century South Asia region was contributing nearly 30% of all reported cases of malaria. This was in the range of 300-500 million victim of malaria worldwide as reported in 2001. .
In Journal of Pakistan Medical Association (JPMA) of March 2013 Volume 63 issue 3, a report was published having the headline
“Prevalence of malaria with in Pakistani area bordering with Iran”.
It further reported nearly half of the world population is still likely to be at risk to suffer from malaria. In the year 2008 malaria cases reported were nearly 245 million and death reported was nearly 863,000. In Pakistan it is estimated that 2.5 million malaria cases were recorded in year 2008.
Malaria symptoms may appear with in few weeks after the mosquito bite to the individual.
Malaria symptoms which are commonly observe:
- Cold feeling, shivering ranging from mild to moderate in nature
- Severe sweating
- High grade fever
- Headache
- Pain in the muscle
- Nausea, vomiting and occasionally diarrhea
- Convulsion or seizure
- Blood traces in stool.
As stated by Center for Disease Control normally refer as CDC,
Malaria is a serious disease and occasionally it can be fatal because of the parasite carried away by mosquito which suck the blood of human being as their feed. Four type of malarial parasite infects human being and they are Plasmodium falciparum, Plasmodium vivax, P. ovale and P. malariae.
In it P. falciparum is the parasite which causes malaria by the bite, this will result in serious infection and if not treated timely may lead to death. Though Malaria is serious illness but it can be prevented.
World Health Organization (WHO) estimated worldwide 216 million people were effected by Malaria in the year 2016, out of which approximately 450,000 people were died due to malaria.
WHO further stated most of the victim were children and within Africa. Malaria area mostly lies in Asia Pacific region and Africa. Globally listed are more than 100 countries and they are the poor nations which further include Central and South America.
Malaria disease is a vicious cycle and it is mostly linked with the poverty and living in unhygienic place.
Nearly 50% of world population is at risk.
Individual who are affected by Malaria are bitten by infected mosquito that is refer as Female Anopheles
Malaria incidence is observe in Asia Pacific during the wet summer and monsoon season. This
persist from May to October each year which includes monsoon season. Travel guideline for these countries such as Pakistan and India, people should take measure to protect themselves from mosquito bite.
The incidence is highest during the wet summer season, which includes the monsoon season (May–October). Travelers to India should take measures to protect themselves from daytime mosquito bites to prevent dengue (see Chapter 2, Protection against Mosquitoes, Ticks, & Other Arthropods).
