Malaria is characterized by chills and fever and often by vomiting and severe headache. These symptoms typically appear at intervals of 2-3 days, alternating with asymptomatic periods. Malaria occurs wherever the mosquito vector Anopheles is found and there are human hosts for the protozoan parasite Plasmodium.

It is estimated that malaria affects 300-500 million people worldwide and causes 2-4 million deaths annuals. Actually, there are probably more people dying of malaria today than 30 years ago. It is returning to areas where it had been nearly eradicated, such as eastern Europe and central Asia. Africa, where 90% of the mortality from the disease occurs, suffers the most from malaria. It is estimated that it kills an African child every 30 seconds.

The disease was once widespread in the United States but effective mosquito control and a reduction in the number of human carriers caused the reported cases to drop before 100 by 1960. In recent years, however, there has been an upward trend in the number of U.S. cases, reflecting a worldwide resurgence of malaria, increased travel to malarial areas, and an increase in immigration from malarial areas.

Much effort is being expended on the search for an effective vaccine. Unfortunately, the vaccine would have to be effective against the four most common species of Plasmodium and against te red blood cell stage (merozoite), the plasma and liver stage (sporozoite), and the sexual stage (gametocyte).

Life cycle of the malaria parasite

Procedure
Eradiation of malaria is not in sight. Your task is to determine the most effective control measures currently available and answer the following questions in your Lab Report. You do not need to keep within a budget.

5. Can the (malaria) epidemic be eradicated by using only one of the four options for all 5 years If so, which one? If not, describe what happened when each option was used alone and try to explain the results.

6. Curative activities are directed at the cure of a malaria victim. Preventative activities are intended to prevent healthy individuals from getting malaria. Can malaria be eradicated by using only curative measures? That is, setting up hospitals and administering drugs to the ill? Describe the results of using such a plan.

GO TO THE MALARIA PROGRAM