Malaria Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Malaria - Research Paper Example There are several devastations wrought by the disease itself. As a result of that fact, malaria in most cases gets the blame for fevers arising from other infections. In addition, malaria interferes with the treatment of other non malarial infections thereby; resulting into higher death rates from the other causes. Without forgetting, malaria has an enormous impact on the economy of most African countries. It slows down economic growth by 1% in African countries hence causing more than $ 1000 annually in per capita GDP. In 1970, 24 countries in the world had eliminated malaria completely. However, there were several countries in the other parts of the world especially; Africa had most of the countries. Malaria is an infection that caused by one of the four species of a parasite known as plasmodium. The four species include; Plasmodium vivax, P. falciparum, P. ovale, and P. malariae (Greenwood & Mutabinghwa 671). Transmission of the disease from one person to the other then occurs thr ough the bite of an anopheles mosquito (David 1). Plasmodium enters the bloodstream of another individual only if the anopheles that bit him or her had previously bit a person who had malaria. Once the plasmodium finds its way into the bloodstream, it travels to the liver. This is the main part of the human body where plasmodium gets an opportunity to multiply rapidly. In a short period of a fortnight, thousands of plasmodia get back into the bloodstream. They then damage oxygen-carrying red blood cells hence resulting into anemia and high fever. After maturity of the disease causing microorganisms in the red blood cells, they rapture the cells and find their way back into the bloodstream. Damaged blood cells form small clumps that block blood vessels hence causing either kidney or brain damage. One of the species of plasmodium causes a detrimental infection known as falciparum malaria. This infection causes fatal blood vessels damage. Signs and symptoms of malaria sometimes seem to be vague. However, it is an undisputable reasoning that fever is one of the most conspicuous signs the disease. Other symptoms given consideration for include; increased sweating, headache, abdominal cramps, fatigue, dizziness, dry cough, joint pains, chills, pain from the back, myalgia, nausea, vomiting, cough, and diarrhea (Marcus & Alcamo & Heymann 46). If plasmodium falciparum does not get immediate treatment, it can result into a coma, pulmonary edema, and failure of the renal and even death. Despite the symptoms, physicians advocate for malarial diagnosis for those people who have the named symptoms. The symptoms do occur on the third day or any other day in the calendar. Fever in malaria normally develops remarkably early in the patients. There are numerous procedures used in the diagnosis of malaria the most common one being clinical diagnosis. Despite the fact that reliable diagnosis cannot be obtained on the basis of signs and symptoms alone, clinical diagnosis of malaria is much practiced in most malarial areas. In malarial endemic world, trained health care personnel and necessary facilities are inadequate. This therefore, means that the presumptive clinical diagnosis is one of the most realistic options. It is therefore, the commonest approach in the context of complex emergencies. This method offers the merits of speed, ease, and low costs. In areas that are common with malaria, clinical diagnosis ends up treating all patients with fever and other common malaria