Malaria is different in children than adults
Did you notice any of your Facebook friends had blacked-out profile pictures on Friday? It was World Malaria Day, established to help developed countries learn more about this disease. It's a day of determination to dedicate resources towards a parasite that affects the poor.
In honor of this day, here is an article about recent research that has determined that the blood of children responds differently to the parasite than the blood of adults. This has important consequences in treatment choices. Read the article, then do some research on the biology of malaria and current treatments.
18 comments:
Malaria is a somewhat location specific disease, mainly tropical areas. This is a very interesting study that just shows how far out technology has progressed to be able to show such small changes in genes could cause such large problems. 40% of the world population is located in areas that are populated by mosquitoes that carry this disease. From a scientific and business stand point this disease deserves much research but it has shown to be very allusive in terms of treatment. Since it is wide spread in poorer areas a lot of money is not being invested. In America there are not many tropical areas that can spread this parasite, so we do not invest a lot of money in research because it will not help our nation. This is very sad but it is the reality of the world, if it does not bother you than you don't need to do anything about that problem. It is good to see that people are expanding their research to help others rather than just trying to make money.
The website that i found give some background on the parasite, there are four types that can affect humans, Plasmodium falciparum, P. vivax, P. ovale and P. malariae. It also discusses the hardships in detecting this parasite. Since there are not many labs or trained scientists in remote parts of the world where this diseas is wide spread, the goal is to create on-demand testing. By taking a small blood sample and putting it on a strip of paper, a result will be given, just like a ph paper. These are cheap and easily used which will help to properly treat the infect patients with the correct medication.
http://www.rapid-diagnostics.org/rti-malaria.htm
The WHO website states that malaria is caused by the Plasmodium parasite and is transmitted through mosquito bites. These parasites target the liver and infect the red blood cells. Initial symptoms (10-15 days after bite) include fever, headache, vomiting, among others. If left untreated, the parasites will disrupt blood supply to our major vital organs. Transmission and intensity vary depending on the species of mosquito, weather/climate, and proximity to mosquito breeding sites. One huge issue regarding malaria is that many of these parasites have become resistant to a number of malaria medications.
Some random stats WHO provides: every 30 seconds a child dies of malaria; 40% of the world's population is at risk for malaria; every year 1 million people die of malaria, most of them women and children living in Africa. The saddest and most shocking aspect is that malaria is completely treatable, curable, and preventable. The fact that so many people are still affected is truly saddening. It is great that WHO decided to initiate World Malaria Day as of 2007. More information needs to be shared with the public regarding malaria, and other diseases plaguing people, especially in Africa.
With the new discovery of "an autoimmune-like response in blood", found by FSU's Department of Biological Science, we are one step closer in the fight against malaria. This discovery will enable for new treatments and vaccines for Africa's people, who are generally at a much higher risk of getting and being affected by malaria. Since the response of the parasite in children is different from the reaction of adults, the treatments vary to accommodate their different blood times.
Malaria is a disease in which malaria parasites are spread by humans and female Anopheles mosquitoes. The parasites in humans grow and multiply in the liver cells and then in the red blood cells. The parasites then grow inside the red cells and and destroy them, while releasing daughter parasites that continue the cycle.
The current treatment for malaria is drugs by continuous intravenous infusion.
http://www.cdc.gov/malaria/biology/index.htm
http://www.cdc.gov/malaria/diagnosis_treatment/treatment.htm
According to WebMD, Malaria is "an infection of the blood that is carried from person to person by mosquitoes."
The disease has been wiped out in North America, Western Europe, and Russia. In the tropical and subtropical world malaria is a major problem. It is caused by protozoan of the genus Plasmodium. It is great to see that in Florida, although the United States is basically unaffected by malaria, students are taking steps to help alleviate the world of this disease.
The website I found gave a lot of background about the parasite, including the 4 species of Plasmodium. P vivax, P ovale, P malariae, and P falciparum are the 4 types of the parasite, with P falciparum being the most life-threatening.
Malaria is typically treated at home using oral medications and fluids. If the infection is very severe, it may require IV drug therapy. The most important thing is to not become dehydrated.
Chloroquine (Aralen)or mefloquine (Larium) are typical treatments for those that are infected with any malaria aside from P falciparum. Otherwise a person may be treated with quinidine (Quinalan, Quinidex, Cardioquin, Duraquin), which works for the heart as well as the parasites.
Anyone that is "infected with P falciparum malaria, or if the doctor does not know the specific type of malaria, are likely to be treated with IV quinine(Formula Q)."
http://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/malaria
As mentioned above, malaria is caused by a parasite called plasmodium most commonly found in tropical areas of Asia and Africa. The most common species of plasmodium is P. falciparum and it’s the most severe and responsible for many deaths resulting from malaria since it brings the quickest and most destructive force to red blood cells out of the four. Malaria is spread when a female mosquito has specific cells called sporozoites in her saliva (taken from someone that’s malaria-infected) and injects these into a person. Those cells thrive in the person’s liver eventually bringing forth cells called merozoites. These eventually find their way to the person’s bloodstream and attack red blood cells, forming another type of cells called trophozoites along with daughter cells. When a non-infected mosquito takes the blood containing daughter cells from an infected person and bites someone without malaria, they further on the vicious cycle of carrying this disease from person to person. Thus, people become the vessel for malaria and mosquitoes are its carriers.
Symptoms begin to appear anywhere between one to four weeks after coming down with a case of malaria and then symptoms will recur every two to three days. If not treated properly, or if the immune system can’t properly defend against the disease, it can result in death and in some severe cases, death can ensue even just hours after. The cases are usually more deadly among children since their immune systems have not yet fully developed. Main symptoms are chills and fever, and given enough time can turn into anemia, brain damage, damage the liver, amongst other things. Most people fear that traveling will increase contraction of the disease and upon return home, will spread it. Luckily, within a few hours of blood samples, a doctor can easily detect whether malaria is present within your system and provide treatment.
Although there’s no effective vaccine available for malaria, there are many different and efficient treatments. The type of drug you take and the amount depends on the type of malaria you have, your age, how sick you are, as well as many other important factors. Drugs are taken either orally or intravenously. One form of treatment is called artemisinin-based combination therapy (ACT) which is a combination of certain companion drugs. When taken in the form of one or two pills a day, it enters the bloodstream quickly cleaning away the parasites and with few side effects, it also shortens the treatment period from weeks to days. On the downside, it can be rather expensive.
The article talks about breakthrough news regarding identifying white blood cell remnants (called NETs) in children, helping them further understand why their treatments weren’t effective. With more knowledge of the underlying mechanics of this form of malaria, there’s no doubt that they’ll be a huge leap in the treatment of malaria for those in other nations.
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/malaria/DS00475/DSECTION=1
Thanks to FSU's research, there are greater opportunities for developing effective malaria treatment for children. It was really surprising to read that though malaria patients' blood has been studied for years, no one thought to look twice at the
"exploding" white cells, which is exactly why current malaria treatments aren't working on children. Now that researchers are aware of these autoimmune-like responses in the blood, we can move forward with better treatment. Good!
http://www.malaria.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=132&Itemid=32
As is seen in the Malaria Foundation's website, the malaria pathogen is "not a bacterium [or] a virus." Instead, it is a single celled parasite, which kills off host cells and reproduces more parasites within the host. There are four main types of malaria affecting humans, but there are some strains of malaria that also affect animals such as rodents, birds, and mammals. Malaria is contracted by mosquito bite.
In general, once infected, on the first day, the patient has a fever which, in a few hours, turns into chills. The cycle repeats in a few days until it eventually reaches the brain and kidneys; but for some, it can kill the patient in as little as 24 hours.
The website emphasizes that malaria is a preventable disease, and reminds at-risk persons to take their medication regularly, make sure that all water sources are properly covered (to prevent mosquitoes from breeding) and to sleep under mosquito nets. The main treatment for malaria is the administration of medication. The drug to be taken depends largely on how severe the case is. For moderate cases, children and adults are advised to take Aralen for 14 days (smaller doses for children), and for more severe cases, children and adults are to take quinidine gluconate along with either doxycycline, tetracycline, or clindamycin. These medications help treat current infections, but as malaria largely effects developing countries, unfortunately, malaria patients often do not have the economic resources to obtain these treatments.
Malaria is a location specific disease, mainly Africa and tropical areas, however because of the use of airplanes, travellers can bring malaria very easily.
New treatments for malaria are extensive. A novel treatment for malaria is with the use of the Madagascar plant. The compound isolated from this plant, tazopsine, from Strychnopsis thousarsii, a species endemic to Madagascar completely protected mice from malaria in experiments.
Reference: http://news.mongabay.com/2006/1225-malaria.html
Apparently these plants are readily available and would be an immediate impact in reducing the number of deaths from malaria in Sub-Saharan Africa. It is mindblogging that malaria, a mosquito-borne illness kills up to three million people, mostly children in Sub-Saharan Africa per year.
It is very interesting to learn that malaria affects adults and children differently. I have known for a while that milaria is a deadly infection that plagues many different third world countries but had no clue that it affected children more than adults.
Malaria is "a vector-borne infectious disease caused by protozoan parasites. It is widespread in tropical and subtropical regions, including parts of the Americas, Asia, and Africa. Each year, it causes disease in approximately 515 million people and kills between one and three million people, the majority of whom are young children in Sub-Saharan Africa. Malaria is commonly associated with poverty, but is also a cause of poverty and a major hindrance to economic development."
There are several different types of drugs used to treat malaria. One of those is Chloroquine.
"Chloroquine is very cheap and, until recently, was very effective, which made it the antimalarial drug of choice for many years in most parts of the world."
More information can be found at the following website:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malaria
This is a very interesting and exciting discovery for treating a deadly disease such as malaria. It goes to show how much our technology has become so advanced over the years. Malaria is mostly affected in Africa where 90% of the death rates occur. To have an anit-malaria vaccine availiable now is astonishing and can save the lives of very many people.
Malaria is spread through parasites from female mosquitoes and humans and end up parasitizing the liver cells. The white blood cells are your protection and they get depleated because the red blood cells become to overgrown. The website I used has great information about the life cycle of malaria.
http://www.cdc.gov/malaria/biology/index.htm
Malaria is basically transmitted through mosquito bites. Basically once a human is infected, it continues to develop and increase in numbers within the body. As it continues to multiply, it releases parasites and it continues keep the cycle going. The different types of treatment of malaria depends on about four different things: type of infection, severity of infection, status of the host, and it’s association with different conditions and diseases. There are basically two different types of malaria. The P. vivax and the P. falciparum. The P. vivax malaria is the less severe type and requires about two to three weeks of Chloroquine 25mg/kg and primaquine. However, P. falciparum malaria should be watched and carefully examined because it could be extremely serious and your body could develop a resistance to anti malarial drugs. A safe bet in treatment for malaria is to use the drugs quinine and artemisinin. To ensure adequate absorption of the drug and to maintail plasma levels, the best way is to treat with injectable antimalarials, usually two blood schizonticidal drugs. One of theses should be slow acting and the other fast acting to make sure that the treatment is entire. The treatment isn’t so simple as to just using the same medications for each patient. The patient’s age and weight should be monitered as well as their ability to function. If a patient has nausea, fever, on other medications/drugs, etc. different types of treatment needs to be given. Another way to treat malaria is through suppressive treatment. The symptoms can improve by controlling the erythocytic stage. This can be done through blood schizonticidal drugs and chloroquine. Another way is by using presumptive treatment. This is highly popular in places with a high concentration of malaria.
http://malariasite.com/malaria/Treatment1.htm
Malaria parasites spread by infecting two hosts: humans and female mosquitoes. Starting at the liver, the parasites grow and multiply in the liver first, then they attack the red cells of the blood. When the parasites invade the blood cells, they grow inside the red cells and destroys them. This action causes the release of merozoites which continues the cycle by invading other red blood cells. Symptoms start to become obvious when the parasites attack the blood cells.
When a mosquito bites a human and sucks their blood, the growth and multiplication of the parasites start a completely different cycle. When the mosquito sucks blood from an infected human, the parasites are found in the mosquito’s salivary glad after 10- 18 days of the bite. Then, then when the mosquito is hungry again, it bites another person, the parasites are injected into the human through the mosquito’s saliva. Mosquitoes are the carrier of malaria and transfer the parasites from human to human.
The treatment for malaria has altered over the past 20 years because positive responses to current malaria treatments are on a decline. There are various types of treatment drugs such as Chloroquine, Mefloquine, and Quinne. Chloroquine is the most affordable and used the most often; however, the new strains are becoming resistant to this drug. This drug prevents the development of malaria parasites in the red blood cells. It can be used to prevent as well was treat malaria. Mefloquine is used to treat but not prevent malaria. It was found that in Thailand, Cambodia, and Myanmar there are strains of malaria that are resistant to Mefloquine. Quinine is actually the first effective treatment for malaria caused by P. falciparum. Though there are new drugs today, Quinine is used to treat patients in critical situations.
Malaria parasites spread by infecting two hosts: humans and female mosquitoes. Starting at the liver, the parasites grow and multiply in the liver first, then they attack the red cells of the blood. When the parasites invade the blood cells, they grow inside the red cells and destroys them. This action causes the release of merozoites which continues the cycle by invading other red blood cells. Symptoms start to become obvious when the parasites attack the blood cells.
When a mosquito bites a human and sucks their blood, the growth and multiplication of the parasites start a completely different cycle. When the mosquito sucks blood from an infected human, the parasites are found in the mosquito’s salivary glad after 10- 18 days of the bite. Then, then when the mosquito is hungry again, it bites another person, the parasites are injected into the human through the mosquito’s saliva. Mosquitoes are the carrier of malaria and transfer the parasites from human to human.
The treatment for malaria has altered over the past 20 years because positive responses to current malaria treatments are on a decline. There are various types of treatment drugs such as Chloroquine, Mefloquine, and Quinne. Chloroquine is the most affordable and used the most often; however, the new strains are becoming resistant to this drug. This drug prevents the development of malaria parasites in the red blood cells. It can be used to prevent as well was treat malaria. Mefloquine is used to treat but not prevent malaria. It was found that in Thailand, Cambodia, and Myanmar there are strains of malaria that are resistant to Mefloquine. Quinine is actually the first effective treatment for malaria caused by P. falciparum. Though there are new drugs today, Quinine is used to treat patients in critical situations.
Malaria is an infectious disease that is carried in the Anopheles mosquito. The disease is spread though the bite of the mosquito. There are four species of the plasmodium parasite that is responsible for malaria; they are plasmodium vivas, plasmodium malariae, plasmodium ovale, and plasmodium falciparum. Most of the infections come from tropical Africa.
Mosquitoes become infected by plasmodium by ingesting blood that contains the sexual forms of the plasmodium parasite. The parasite develops in the mosquito and then becomes transmitted to humans through a simple bite. Malaria begins to infect the liver of the human. The parasite matures and enters into the bloodstream. In the bloodstream, red blood cells become infected and burst open after about 2 to 3 days. The exploded blood cells release a new batch of parasites and the cycle repeats over and over again. Once the body becomes infected with malaria, the symptoms are shaking chills, high fever, sweating, fatigue, headache, dizziness, nausea, vomiting, stomachaches, dry cough, muscle or joint pain, and back ache. These symptoms usually occur every other day or third day.
After being diagnosed with the disease treatment is usually medication. However, medication is different depending on the type of plasmodium parasite. Medications usually included chloroquin, mefloquine, primaquine, quinine, pyrimethamine-sulfadoxine, and doxycycline. There are also alternative medications that are used when the plasmodium resists the original medication.
http://www.healthscout.com/ency/68/347/main.html
Malaria is a parasitic disease, often transmitted through infected mosquitoes. People of all ages are prone to the disease. There are four types of malaria and Plasmodium falciparum is the most deadly form. Symptoms usually appear within 10 to 15 days following the contraction, including headache, fever, nausea, vomiting (WHO). The epidemic in developing countries is becoming severe, partially due to the abnormal climate change within the recent years.
In the past, artemisinin has been used to treat the disease. Artemisinin is a naturally found in the Artemisia annua plant; however, this extraction of the chemical substance is time-consuming and expensive. Recently, scientists from UC Berkeley have genetically-engineered an E. Coli bacteria that produces the pre-cursor of anti-malaria drug, amorphadiene.
http://www.lbl.gov/Science-Articles/Archive/sabl/2006/May/02-antimalarial.html
The person who discovered Malaria was Alphonse Laveren who began his research in 1879 in Algeria. He found that Malaria were pre-existing parasites that have always lived, but most likely originated from Africa. He learned about Malaria through mosquito fossils. Over the years Malaria has become more dominant as the population of human growth expands. According to information, the first recorded treatment of Malaria was from the bitter bark of the cinchona tree in Peru.
Although now, there are many options for helping prevent Malaria and some medicines to help fix it, but there is currently no vaccine for it. Malaria is predominant in 3rd world countries where is a lot of dirty still water where mosquitoes can develop these bacterias and pass them to humans. Countries where heat is also a problem is predominantly affected, Thailand, Laos, Burma, Africa, etc.
Overall malaria kills over a million each year, and primarily affects younger children than adults.
Here is the world malaria report of 2005:
http://www.rollbackmalaria.org/wmr2005/
This website describes the history of Malaria: http://nobelprize.org/educational_games/medicine/malaria/readmore/history.html
SORRY I forgot to post my LINK!
Malaria parasites spread by infecting two hosts: humans and female mosquitoes. Starting at the liver, the parasites grow and multiply in the liver first, then they attack the red cells of the blood. When the parasites invade the blood cells, they grow inside the red cells and destroys them. This action causes the release of merozoites which continues the cycle by invading other red blood cells. Symptoms start to become obvious when the parasites attack the blood cells.
When a mosquito bites a human and sucks their blood, the growth and multiplication of the parasites start a completely different cycle. When the mosquito sucks blood from an infected human, the parasites are found in the mosquito’s salivary glad after 10- 18 days of the bite. Then, then when the mosquito is hungry again, it bites another person, the parasites are injected into the human through the mosquito’s saliva. Mosquitoes are the carrier of malaria and transfer the parasites from human to human.
The treatment for malaria has altered over the past 20 years because positive responses to current malaria treatments are on a decline. There are various types of treatment drugs such as Chloroquine, Mefloquine, and Quinne. Chloroquine is the most affordable and used the most often; however, the new strains are becoming resistant to this drug. This drug prevents the development of malaria parasites in the red blood cells. It can be used to prevent as well was treat malaria. Mefloquine is used to treat but not prevent malaria. It was found that in Thailand, Cambodia, and Myanmar there are strains of malaria that are resistant to Mefloquine. Quinine is actually the first effective treatment for malaria caused by P. falciparum. Though there are new drugs today, Quinine is used to treat patients in critical situations.
http://www.jpgmonline.com/article.asp?issn=0022-3859;year=2006;volume=52;issue=4;spage=277;epage=280;aulast=Shanks
Malaria is a vector borne disease caused by protozoan parasites such as mosquitoes. it is widespread in tropical and subtropical regions, including many areas of the americas, asia, and africa. this disease is something that has definitely been a plague on our world for man years and still continues this day to be a nuisance to people all around the world. it is really amazing that we have come to realize that there are minimal changes in our genes that can affect our life enough that we can die. technology has really come along way and now it is necessary that we find a cure to this unfortunate disease that affects young children much more than adults. there is currently no cure to malaria but there is a medicine that lower the risks of being infected. the only thing that is wrong with this is how expensive it is for many consumers that are in need of it. therefore there is really nothing that can benefit low income families to prevent malaria. 40 percent of world is surrounded by mosquitos that carry malaria.this number will only grow in time therefore our time to find a cure is running out.
I have noticed people having blacked out profiles on facebook, but did not bother to find out what it meant. But after doing some research I found out that it was a very common disease.
I found out that there were more than 2.4 million people that are infected with malaria, which makes over 40 percent of the population.
Although this disease is more common in african countries, such as Africa, Central and South America, Americans still have to be careful.
It is important that the public knows how to prevent malaria.
http://entochem.tamu.edu/neurobiology/index.html
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