Malaria
In 2010, malaria caused ~219,000,000 clinical episodes, and killed around 660,000 people
75% of cases occur in the poor
Drug-resistant cases have been observed
Treatment is inexpensive, from a first-world perspective: ~$0.13 – 2.68/person
Most of the mortality (~91%) occurs in Africa
Women and children are particularly at risk (~2/3 of deaths are of those under age five)
At any one time, up to 500,000 people are infected globally
3,300,000,000 people live in areas considered malarious
It has been said that:
Malaria has killed one half of the people that have ever lived
Until the end of World War II, it was responsible for 50% of the business enjoyed by the funeral
industry
For every one person who dies of malaria, “another four or five succumb to its indirect
flirtations”
Cause of Malaria
Historically, at least three theories were used to explain outbreaks of malaria:
‘Bad airs’ – this being the most prevalent explanation
Contamination of water by mosquitos
“Three devils”
Despite its contemporary global distribution, malaria is an old world disease that appears to
have been first recorded, by the Chinese, in 2700BCE
Malaria is a disease of the blood, caused by a protozoan parasite
There are four types of malaria, but Plasmodium falciparum is the most significant
It likely has its origins in a disease of apes, monkeys, or birds
It may have “jumped” the species barrier contemporary with the first agriculture in Africa
Malaria is vectored by the Anopheles mosquito
The mosquito injects saliva with its bite; the parasite spends part of its life-cycle in the liver, and
then infects red blood cells
The disease is characterized by:
Chills
High fever
Headache
In many cases, it causes coma and/or death
Infection causes immunosuppression, and leaves sufferers vulnerable to other infections
Malarious areas tend to have high rates of stillbirth, infant mortality, child mortality, maternal
mortality, and male infertility
Sickle cell trait is an adaptation to malaria
Malaria in History
Malaria was brought to Greece by armies returning from foreign campaigns, and with slaves
brought back from Africa
The disease caused widespread illness that may have contributed to the downfall of Greek
civilization
“Melancholia” accompanied the onset and peak of the malaria season
The Roman Empire suffered the ills of malaria for 500 years, with the life-giving water
infrastructure for which Rome is so well known becoming a major threat to the populous if left
unmaintained
Malaria contributed a goddess to the Roman pantheon: Febris
The roman legions declined, as did the population of farmers
A popular remedy was the recitation of the incantation “abracadabra”
By the middle ages, malaria had spread into more temperate regions of Europe
A popular remedy at the time was prayer
Foreign popes refused to rule from Rome, as it was considered a death sentence to move there
Malaria in the New World
Malaria found its way to the Americas onboard slave ships
Its arrival was devastating to aboriginal peoples, wiping out entire communties
To this day, the distribution of “racial” groups in the Caribbean reflects this moment in history:
black on the coast, indigenous in the mountains
The resistance of black slaves to malaria was viewed with suspicion by white Europeans, and
also formed the basis of a rationalization of slavery
3-40% of all of the Europeans who arrived in the Caribbean in the 17 th and 18th Centuries died
“of fever”
One of the cures for malaria – quinine – is derived from the bark of a New World plant: the
Cinchona tree (Peruvian Bark)
It has anti-malarial, anti-inflammatory, and analgesic effects
It is used to flavour tonic water
Treatment & Prevention
Malaria Today