Malaria

Malaria

by LaBria

Malaria is an infectious disease caused by tiny protozoa and transmitted through a mosquito called Anopheles. Malaria is among the top five causes of deaths in Sub-Saharan Africa. When malaria parasites enter the blood stream it destroys the blood cells. The symptoms caused by malaria include fever, chills, headache, muscle aches, tiredness, and nausea. A child dies every thirty seconds from malaria, but three thousand people die every day. Everyone gets colds and fevers, but imagine being in Africa and affected by malaria, and will soon die. The current treatment is a 300-year-old drug named quinine and it doesn’t work very well.

One way that people can prevent the anopheles from biting is to put bed nets around sleeping areas so that the mosquitoes can’t get to the human flesh.  Physician Scientist Peter Weina has tested a common weed, Sweet Wormwood, and found a compound that kills the Malaria protozoa. Now after eight years of testing they have an amazing new drug, Artesunate. People are getting better very quickly. Scientists are also working on a vaccine for Malaria.

I hope in the future in order to cure Malaria we will be able to give vaccines to the villages so that if one is bitten he/she will not be affected by Malaria.

References:

http://www.dhpe.org/infect/malaria.html

http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/kids/stories/spacescience/malaria/

http://www.esa.int/esaKIDSen/SEMVWKXJD1E_Earth_0.html

http://www.ndep.us/Fighting-Malaria

http://www.timeforkids.com/news/smelly-solution/3316

http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/15364039

http://www.loe.org/shows/segments.html?programID=11-P13-00009&segmentID=2