Malaria affects the health and wealth of nations and people in every part of the world. Malaria is a very serious, life threatening disease that is passed from person to person. It is one of the largest diseases around the world. Malaria has been on earth since the mid Pleistocene age. It is a very ancient disease that has moved to be one of the most dangerous and deadly diseases in the world. Malaria is one of the major public health challenges in some of the poorest countries in the world. The reality is that malaria is a disease of poor countries. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) every year about 350 million people around the world will suffer from malaria, and from this number approximately 2 to 3 million people will die from this disease. Malaria usually occurs in tropical and sub tropical countries.
Economic burden of malaria with direct health cost there is a severe economic burden of the disease in terms of lost days of work. In fact malaria is thought to take off 1.3% from the economic growth of some African countries. In some of the most severely affected countries, it accounts for 40% of public health expenditure, 30-50% of inpatient admissions, and 50% of outpatient visits. It affects developing countries in more ways than one including decline of tourism.
Malaria is a disease caused by a parasite, transmitted by the bite of infected mosquitoes. Malaria produces recurrent attacks of chills and fever. Malaria was eliminated from the United States in the early 1950's.Approximately 1,500–2,000 cases of malaria are reported every year in the United States, almost all in recent travelers. Reported malaria cases reached a 40-year high of 1,925 in 2011. First- and second-generation immigrants from malaria-endemic countries returning to their "home" countries to visit friends and relatives tend not to use appropriate malaria prevention measures and thus are more likely to become infected with malaria. Between 1957 and 2011, in the United States, 63 outbreaks of locally transmitted mosquito-borne malaria have occurred; in such outbreaks, local mosquitoes become infected by biting persons carrying malaria parasites (acquired in endemic areas) and then transmit malaria to local residents. Of the species of Anopheles mosquitoes found in the United States, the three species that were responsible for malaria transmission prior to elimination (Anopheles quadrimaculatus in the east, freeborni in the west, and pseudopunctipennis along the U.S./Mexico border) are still widespread; thus there is a constant risk that malaria could be reintroduced in the United States. (CDC Centers for Disease Prevention, 2014)
During 1963-2011, 97 cases of transfusion-transmitted malaria were reported in the United States; approximately two thirds of these cases could have been prevented if the implicated donors had been deferred according to established guidelines. Malaria Worldwide 3.4 billion people live in areas at risk of malaria transmission in 106 countries and territories. The World Health Organization estimates that in 2014 malaria caused 207 million clinical episodes, and 627,000 deaths.
While the disease is uncommon in temperate climates, malaria is still prevalent in tropical and subtropical countries. World health officials are trying to reduce the incidence of malaria by distributing bed nets to help protect people from mosquito bites as they sleep. Scientists around the world are working to develop a vaccine to prevent malaria. If you're traveling to locations where malaria is common, take preventive medicine before, during and after your trip. Many malaria parasites are now immune to the most common drugs used to treat the disease.
A malaria infection is generally characterized by recurrent attacks with the following signs and symptoms: Moderate to severe shaking chills, high fever, profuse sweating, as body temperature falls, other signs and
