Malaria Paper
NAME _ ___________________________________________________________________________________
5/10/2025
DATE_________________________
Disease Information
Disease
Malaria
Description of disease
and symptoms
Malaria is a disease caused by Plasmodium and its strains.
Specifically Plasmodium falciparum, Plasmodium malariae,
Plasmodium vivax & Plasmodium ovale. Malaria uses mosquitoes
as its vector as well as a primary host. Plasmodium is considered
a parsite, its main targets in the human body are the liver and
RBC's.
Malaria's symptoms include but are not limited to, anemia, chills,
fever, enlarged liver & spleen, seizures and kidney failure.
Plasmodium works by entering through a mosquito bite as
sporozoites, where they infect cells other than those directly on the
blood stream and change into merozoites, which then go on to
(May vary slightly by infect RBC's. Most of the infected RBC's are used to produce more
species)
merozoites, but some become gametocyts which are picked up by
healthy mosquitos to continue the life cycle. Once fertilized in the
mosquitos stomach the zygote becomes an ookinete which moves
through the stomache to penatrate its wall and become an oocyst.
The cyst then matures releasing sporozoites.
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Cellular mechanism
of disease
Social factors
People with lower education tend to overlook malaria, as in they
don't know that there are protective measures to help prevent
infection such as bed nets and mosquito reppellant. And in some
under-developed regions people don't even know that malaria is
carried by mosquitos. This in turn makes infection in rural regions
much higher.
Economic factors
Lower encome populations and those in poverty have trouble
accessing medicene and prevention measures. And those infected
usually cannot work and are a heavy load on their famillies and
countries due to the treatment costs. These countries also have
decreased tourism during outbreaks, putting them in a cycle where
they are constantly in poverty. Slowing yearly GDP growth in these
high transmission countries by up to an estimated 3%.
Environmental factors
Malaria tends to flourish where mosquitos do, which makes swamps
and humid regions more at risk to malaria spreading. These regions
include south-saharan Africa & south/south-east Asia. People who
live in more open housing are also more at risk.Though the main
factor is humidity and heat.
SCIENCE AND GLOBAL ISSUES/CELL BIOLOGY
STUDENT SHEET 2.1
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