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Malaria


According to the World Malaria Report 2019 of the World Health Organization (WHO), there were about 228 million cases of this disease in 2018 worldwide. The report estimates that the global death burden of malaria was 405000 in the year. It also reveals that 19 countries in sub-Saharan Africa and India carried almost 85% of the global malaria burden in 2018. There are flour types of parasites that can cause this mosquito-borne disease. One of them, known as Plasmodium falciparum, was highly prevalent in the WHO African region (99.7% cases) and South East Asian region (50% cases) in 2018. The incidence of P. vivax, another malaria-causing parasite was also high in the later (53% of the global burden) in the year. Out of the total number of P. vivax malaria cases in South East Asia, the majority were from India (47%) in 2018.

What is Malaria?


Malaria is a mosquito-borne parasitic disease characterised by high fever and chills. Transmitted through the bite of infected Anopheles mosquitoes, it can be caused by four parasites: Plasmodium (P) vivax, P. ovale, P. malariae, and P. falciparum. However, there can be other modes of transmission too. You can catch malaria if you are exposed to infected blood during transfusion or while sharing needles to inject drugs. A mother can also pass it on to the child at birth. The malaria parasites march to your liver after they sneak into your body. After maturing over there, they enter the bloodstream after a few days and attack your red blood cells. Once inside the red blood cells, these parasites take 48 to 72 hours to multiply. This makes your infected cells burst open. You start experiencing the symptoms of malaria as this process continues. P. falciparum leads to the most severe form of malaria. It can be fatal too.