Hello Hivers
The above quote was by Dalai Lama, even a Mosquito as small as it it can wreck havoc, not just in your room, but the world. How much more you. Lol. Jokes aside.
Today is world Mosquito Malaria Day and I m marking it with this post.
The theme for this year is
“Harness innovation to reduce the malaria disease burden and save lives.”
I m writing today to bring your awareness to this terrible disease that has seem to plague the world, especially the tropical regions.
Malaria is a parasitic disease caused by the bite of a female anophelese mosquito which has been infected with the plasmodium parasites.
So man is a secondary host and this can often have dangerous symptoms.
Almost every one I know is a regular malaria patient, it is very much endemic in our community and we are tired of it. So far it is the most commonly treated case in outpatient.
So many people have died from this disease. 627,000 people mostly kids die every year. Bill Gates even said it was impossible to calculate the harm Malaria has done to the world, I agree. Source Edudwar.com
The aim of this year's Malaria day is to raise awareness about it and for this post I want to show just how malaria causes it's harm and how we it.
This may not concern regions where the disease is not endemic, it is also a good read for everyone.
Malaria invades the body when an infected female anopheline mosquito bites you, the plasmodium parasites has a liking for the proboscis of the mossquito which it uses to Pierce through the soft skin to suck blood.
This introduces plasmodium into the blood streams as eggs called sporozoites and they mostly swim towards the liver. And infest it causing the hepaticytic phase of their cycle.
There are usually 5 types of plasmodium, one less common one.
P. falicparum, P. vivax, P.Ovale and P.malariae. P. knowlesi is know to be less common in man.
The life cycle of the plasmodium begins from within the mosquito as sporozoites which after the bite affect liver cells and develops forming schizonts which then ruptures to release trophozoites and this infect the red blood cells, mature in them and then causes some form membrane inbalance resulting in heamolysis and schizonts are release and the cycle continues until the next mosquito bite, which pick up the gametocytes in it's sexual form and the produce eggs which continues the cycle of going towards the proboscis of the the mosquito.
The common symptoms felt as fever, mallaisse, body weakness, joint and bone pain, vomiting , abdominal pain, stooling, cough and cataarh can occasional be involved. However in severe or complicated malaria, there are more graver symptoms require emergency care as soon as possible.
This deadly cycle can only be nipped by introduction of Antimalaria agents which sadly has began to loose it's strength due to abuse.
As they say prevention is better than cure.
It is safer to prevent malaria as it can be prevented especially in pregnant women and travellers where it's complications can be detrimental.
Some vaccines have been said to be in trial for a long time now especially for children and pregnant women. They have still not been made mainstream. The world awaits the success.
The use of sulphadoxine pyrimethamine aka fansidar, or Atovaquone/Proguanil is best advised during antenatal periods. This along aside other prevention methods like barrier, Insecticides and use of chemical treated nets, environmental sanitation works together for other.
Finally, it is best advice to be sure it is malaria and other causes of fever are ruled out. The gold standard test for malaria is a blood film microscopic examination for speciation and identification. Other tests that can be done includes the rapid screen with histidine detecting material, a polymerase chain reaction PCR can also be done to detect it.
Management
Every fever is not Malaria. Be that as it may malaria is most common.
To treat malaria, your doctor after doing the test would prescribe the best medication based on your region, severity and if pregnant. The availability of this medications differ and some of them are not safe in the early stages stages of pregnancy so it is safe to see your Doctor and not self medicate just because you can get the drugs over the counter in your country. However the most common combinations are the Atermisine Combination Therapy (ACT) along side management of surrounding symptoms
It is commonly advised to take the medication after an oil based meal or with milk, this is known to hasten the rate of absorption.
Also, do not take the medications especially ACT along side Vit C medications or drinks containing it as this will make the effect of the ACT futile. It practically mops up the antimetabolites released against the parasite by the ACT. Hence it is best to resume the use of VITC 24 to 48 hours after the use of ACT.
Always use the drugs according to instruction, 8hourly and then 12 hourly after the second dose.
More so, drug compliance and dosage completion has been noted to be one of the most dangerous was of abuse of the medication, A lot of people stop the drugs half way because they are feeling better. This poses a risk of a heavier parasitaemia, the most commonly come down weaker and sicker than they were the first time.
Please spread the awareness gotten from this post and do endeavour to ask questions if you have any in the comment region. There are definitely a few other tips that could be shared from my experience
References
Malaria Treatment & Management - Medscape Reference
This is Med-Hive, A series of medical case stories and short explanations on the case, symptoms and slight clinical insight. This does not aim at giving any medical advice as your doctor would do that after proper review involving history taking, physical examination and necessary investigations. However, a healthy society can only thrive with healthy information like this. I will also love to entertain your questions in the comment section. Thanks for Reading
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