by Malaria Q&A
QUESTION:
Is there malaria on Bougainville Island?
ANSWER:
Yes, Bougainville Island (an autonomous region of Papua New Guinea) is considered a malaria transmission zone, and precautions against malaria are advised when visiting. These include sleeping under an insecticide treated bednet, wearing long-sleeved clothing and insect repellent in the evenings and talking with your doctor about potentially also taking anti-malaria medication (called prophylaxis) as a further step to prevent infection.
by Malaria Q&A
QUESTION:
Should I worry about Malaria while in Saipan for 1-2 months? I leave soon and would like to know if I should be vaccinated.
ANSWER:
The first thing I should say, which is crucially important, is that THERE IS NO VACCINE FOR MALARIA! There are, however, many other ways of effectively ensuring that you do not get infected when travelling to or living in malaria transmission areas. In any case, the Center for Disease Control (CDC) considers the Northern Mariana Islands (including Saipan) as free from malaria, so you probably don’t need to worry about asking your doctor about preventative medicine, which you should certainly do if travelling to a highly malarial zone. There are certainly various mosquito species present on the islands, however, and so it might still be beneficial to take precautions against getting bitten, such as wearing insect repellant and long-sleeved clothing, especially at dawn, dusk and at night.
by Malaria Q&A
QUESTION:
How does Malaria affect the digestive system?
ANSWER:
Malaria does not usually affect the digestive system directly, although nausea and abdominal pain can be symptoms of the disease, usually due to the high fevers caused by the infection. Having said that, some of the drugs given as treatment or prevention of malaria are also known to have gastrointestinal side effects; both chloroquine and proguanil (one of the active ingredients in Malarone) are known to cause nausea and abdominal pain as common side effects, and both can also sometimes (in rare cases) result in gastrointestinal bleeding. It is recommended that these medications be taken with food, to reduce the likelihood of experiences any such side effects.
by Malaria Q&A
QUESTION:
What is malaria?
ANSWER:
Malaria is a disease caused by parasites of the genus Plasmodium. Transmitted by mosquitoes, there are several different kinds of malaria distributed throughout the tropical and sub-tropical regions of the world, causing somewhere between 300-500 million cases of disease each year, and as many as 1 million deaths. In fact, malaria is one of the biggest killers of children under the age of five in sub-Saharan Africa, one of the regions of the world where the burden from malaria is the highest. Malaria is usually an acute disease, manifesting itself with severe fever, chills, headache and often nausea as well. Some types of malaria can have relapsing episodes over a time period of many years.
Having said this, malaria is easily preventable, through avoiding mosquito bites by wearing appropriate clothing and sleeping under insecticide-treated bednets, or through taking preventative medication (called prophylaxis). Malaria is also treatable once symptoms appear, through ingesting safe, effective and relatively cheap drugs. With such control measures at hand, you may ask why malaria is still such a huge problem in our world; the answer is that delivering control strategies and treatment to populations most at risk is difficult, and often countries with high malaria burdens don’t have efficient and effective health systems in place to coordinate control efforts.
International non-governmental organisations such as the World Health Organisation, as well as a multitude of non-profit organisations such as the Malaria Consortium and Malaria No More, work tirelessly to bring malaria control and treatment to the places that need it most, with the aim to eradicate malaria as a disease of public health importance.
by Malaria Q&A
QUESTION:
Is malaria contagious?
ANSWER:
No, malaria isn’t directly contagious from one person to another. It has to be transmitted by the bite of a mosquito, which means that if someone near you has malaria, those mosquitoes that bite him are carrying the disease! So, the best way to avoid getting infected is to make sure neither you nor your brother are bitten by mosquitoes. The best way to prevent biting is by wearing long sleeved shirts and long trousers, especially during dusk, dawn and at night, when mosquitoes are most active. Similarly, you should try to sleep under an insecticide-treated bednet. These have been proven to reduce biting from mosquitoes, and therefore the transmission of malaria.
by Malaria Q&A
QUESTION:
Is there malaria in Malaysia?
ANSWER:
Yes, there is malaria in Malaysia, although efficient vector control campaigns, alongside a well-functioning health system which effectively diagnoses and treats malaria cases has vastly reduced the transmission of the disease in peninsular Malaysia at least. Transmission is still a problem in rural, interior areas, and especially in Sabah and Sarawak.
The history of malaria control in Malaysia is actually something of a success story; back in 1961, there were over 240,000 reported cases of malaria across the country; this was reduced to about 40,000 cases by 1980, due to the measures mentioned briefly above, and in 2008, that number had further dropped to only about 7,000 cases a year.
The fatality rate of malaria in Malaysia is also very low, being about 0.09%, or about 50 deaths a year, which is a testament to the effectiveness of national health systems at monitoring for the disease. Having said that, Plasmodium falciparum, the most severe type of malaria, is present in Malaysia—it was this that was responsible for all the reported fatalities in 2008. As such, if you are visiting or living in rural regions of Malaysia, where malaria transmission still is relatively high, it is recommended that you take preventative measures against the disease, such as sleeping under an insecticide-treated bednet, or taking prophylactic (preventative) medicine. This latter measure is usually only worthwhile if you are visiting a malaria area for a relatively short time, as the drugs can be quite expensive.
If you have visited these rural areas, and have symptoms of malaria, such as fever and chills, within two weeks of returning, you should go to the hospital or visit a physician immediately for diagnosis. If it is malaria, the doctor will be able to provide you with the most appropriate medicine for the type of malaria that you have.
by Malaria Q&A
QUESTION:
Can malaria kill you?
ANSWER:
YES! Malaria, especially of the kind caused by Plasmodium falciparum parasites, can be an extremely severe illness and even deadly. Somewhere between 700,000 and 1 million people die of malaria every year, and the majority of these are children under the age of five years old, which is the age group most susceptible to severe malaria attacks. Pregnant women are also at elevated risk, due to their compromised immune systems. Therefore, preventing malaria in young children and pregnant women is the single most effective way to reduce the number of malaria fatalities; in highly endemic areas, this is usually achieved through the distribution of insecticide-treated bednets, to sleep under at night to reduce mosquito bites, or preventative medication such as intermittent preventive therapy (IPT).
Given the seriousness of malaria, it is prudent to check with a doctor or go to hospital if you live in a malaria endemic area and come down with symptoms of the disease such as high fever, chills and nausea. The majority of malaria cases are easily treated with oral medication, given swift and accurate diagnosis.
by Malaria Q&A
QUESTION:
What is malaria?
ANSWER:
To answer your question, I have copied below the answer to an earlier post, published on the 1st of May, 2011, which also asked “What is malaria?”:
Malaria is a disease caused by parasites of the genus Plasmodium. Transmitted by mosquitoes, there are several different kinds of malaria distributed throughout the tropical and sub-tropical regions of the world, causing somewhere between 300-500 million cases of disease each year, and as many as 1 million deaths. In fact, malaria is one of the biggest killers of children under the age of five in sub-Saharan Africa, one of the regions of the world where the burden from malaria is the highest. Malaria is usually an acute disease, manifesting itself with severe fever, chills, headache and often nausea as well. Some types of malaria can have relapsing episodes over a time period of many years.
Having said this, malaria is easily preventable, through avoiding mosquito bites by wearing appropriate clothing and sleeping under insecticide-treated bednets, or through taking preventative medication (called prophylaxis). Malaria is also treatable once symptoms appear, through ingesting safe, effective and relatively cheap drugs. With such control measures at hand, you may ask why malaria is still such a huge problem in our world; the answer is that delivering control strategies and treatment to populations most at risk is difficult, and often countries with high malaria burdens don’t have efficient and effective health systems in place to coordinate control efforts.
International non-governmental organisations such as the World Health Organisation, as well as a multitude of non-profit organisations such as the Malaria Consortium and Malaria No More, work tirelessly to bring malaria control and treatment to the places that need it most, with the aim to eradicate malaria as a disease of public health importance.
QUESTION:
(In conclusion to an earlier question regarding the seriousness of the disease and the way it is likely to affect population vigour if not controlled) – What can the community, the government, individuals (school children, parent, and teachers) do to improve the situation?
ANSWER:
The best way to improve the impact that malaria has upon populations afflicted by malaria is to prevent the disease in the first place.
At a community level, this can be done through the use of long-lasting insecticide treated bednets, which have been shown to be extremely effective in preventing exposure to malaria-carrying mosquitoes. The nets are furthermore cheap and easy to use; the problem is distributing them, and ensuring that the highest-risk groups of people (pregnant women and children under 5 years old) have priority access to the bednets.
In some places, bednets are given out for free at antenatal clinics to target pregnant women; in other places, bednets have been sold at subsidised prices as a way of maintaining the sustainability of the delivery program.
For more information about bednet distribution and the debate surrounding whether they should be free or paid for, please see the post “Malaria – Free Bednets?”
These high risk groups may also benefit from intermittent preventive therapy (IPT) whereby individuals are given treatment for malaria at set intervals, to reduce the risk of suffering from a full-on malaria infection. More information on IPT can be seen in the comments to the question “Reduce risk of P. falciparum.”
If bednet coverage is not thorough an thus prevention not complete, the next stage in reducing the burden of the disease on endemic communities is through accurate, effective diagnosis followed by appropriate treatment. This requires a functional and efficient health services system as well as a well developed transportation network, to ensure that people are encouraged to seek assistance at a clinic or hospital if they develop malaria symptoms, and that they can easily and quickly reach these facilities.
Advanced health systems and transportation networks are the goal of many developing countries, and many regions in the world have made huge amounts of progress in these areas recently. However, momentum must be maintained, and governments throughout the regions of the world where malaria continues to be a huge public health burden need to continue their efforts to strengthen the availability of malaria diagnostics and treatment, in order to remove malaria as an obstacle to people’s well-being and development.
by Malaria Q&A
QUESTION:
What is malaria?
ANSWER:
Malaria is a disease caused by parasites of the genus Plasmodium. Transmitted by mosquitoes, there are several different kinds of malaria distributed throughout the tropical and sub-tropical regions of the world, causing somewhere between 300-500 million cases of disease each year, and as many as 1 million deaths. In fact, malaria is one of the biggest killers of children under the age of five in sub-Saharan Africa, one of the regions of the world where the burden from malaria is the highest. Malaria is usually an acute disease, manifesting itself with severe fever, chills, headache and often nausea as well. Some types of malaria can have relapsing episodes over a time period of many years.
Having said this, malaria is easily preventable, through avoiding mosquito bites by wearing appropriate clothing and sleeping under insecticide-treated bednets, or through taking preventative medication (called prophylaxis). Malaria is also treatable once symptoms appear, through ingesting safe, effective and relatively cheap drugs. With such control measures at hand, you may ask why malaria is still such a huge problem in our world; the answer is that delivering control strategies and treatment to populations most at risk is difficult, and often countries with high malaria burdens don’t have efficient and effective health systems in place to coordinate control efforts.
International non-governmental organisations such as the World Health Organisation, as well as a multitude of non-profit organisations such as the Malaria Consortium and Malaria No More, work tirelessly to bring malaria control and treatment to the places that need it most, with the aim to eradicate malaria as a disease of public health importance.