Background to Malaria

The word mosquito is a Spanish word

that literally means little fly, besides
both being insects and having wings
the physical similarity ends there. Like
flies mosquitoes are vectors of many
diseases. Mosquitoes are carriers of
Dengue fever, Filaris, West Nile
Encephalitis and Malaria.

Malaria is a serious and sometimes

fatal disease which is spread by
mosquitoes. According to the World
Health Organization 40% of the
world's population, mostly those living
in the world's poorest countries are at
risk from malaria. Malaria is especially devastating in sub Saharan Africa where a child dies every
30 seconds from the disease. Many children who survive an episode of severe malaria may suffer
from learning impairments or brain damage.

Malaria is caused when parasites are injected into the host by the female Anopheles mosquito
when she bites her victim. (Male mosquitoes do not bite as they feed on flower nectar.)
Anopheles mosquitoes can only transmit malaria after they have been infected through a
previous blood meal taken from an infected person.

Anopheles Mosquitoes

Anopheles mosquitoes tend to breed in bodies of permanent fresh water. They have abdomens
with pointed tips. They include several species, such as the common malaria mosquito
(Anopheles Quadrimaculatus) that can spread malaria to humans.

Female Anopheles mosquitoes bite because they are searching for isoleucine. Isoleucine is an
amino acid found in the blood. Female mosquitoes need the isoleucine to make eggs. If they find
isoleucine then they may lay hundreds of eggs; but if they do not find it then they may only lay
about ten. Whilst humans are a good source of isoleucine, buffalo and rats have higher quantities
in their blood, however, as there are more humans than buffalo on the planet humans get more
bites!

The mouthparts of the female

Anopheles mosquito are constructed
so that they pierce the skin, literally
sucking the blood out. Her saliva
lubricates the opening and has an anti
coagulant in it which causes a small
quantity of blood to flow freely without
clotting. (The mosquito saliva plus the
injury to the skin creates the stinging
and irritation we associate with
mosquito bites.)
How Infection Takes Place

When a mosquito bites a malaria infected person, a small amount of blood is taken in which
contains the microscopic malaria parasites. The parasites grow and mature in the mosquito’s gut
for a week or more then travels to the mosquito’s salivary glands. When the mosquito next takes
a blood meal, these parasites mix with the saliva and are injected into the bite.

Once in the blood, the parasites travel to the liver and enter liver cells to grow and multiply.
During this "incubation period", the infected person has no symptoms. After as few as 8 days or
as long as several months, the parasites leave the liver cells and enter red blood cells. Once in
the cells, they continue to grow and multiply. After they mature, the infected red blood cells
rupture, freeing the parasites to attack and enter other red blood cells. This can cause anaemia.

Severe anaemia is often the cause of death in areas with intense

malaria transmission. If left untreated, the disease progresses to
severe malaria and results in convulsions and coma. Severe malaria
often causes death if there is no treatment. Toxins released when the
red cells burst are what cause the typical fever, chills, and flu-like
malaria symptoms.

Symptoms of Malaria
Malaria symptoms include fever and flu-like illness, including shaking
chills, headache, muscle aches, and tiredness. Nausea, vomiting, and diarrhoea may also occur.
Malaria may cause anaemia and jaundice (yellow colouring of the skin and eyes) because of the
loss of red blood cells.
Plasmodium Falciparum (PF) Malaria if not promptly treated may cause kidney failure, seizures,
mental confusion, coma, and death.

The Mosquito Life Cycle

Female mosquitoes can develop hundreds of eggs at each blood meal. They lay them in or
around water. The eggs are attached to one another to form a raft or the individual eggs float on
the water.

The eggs hatch within 24-48 hours

releasing larvae that are commonly
known as "wrigglers" because you can
see them wriggling up and down from
the surface of the water. Wrigglers
occur in all kinds of standing water,
such as; ditches, puddles, guttering and
unkempt bird baths to name just a few.

In 7-10 days after the eggs hatch,

larvae change to pupa before becoming
adult mosquitoes. The newly emerging
mosquito has to stand on still water for
a few minutes to dry its wings before it
can fly away. That is one reason that
mosquitoes don't breed in rapidly
moving water such as running brooks
and streams or even a pond that has a
fountain.
The female mosquito begins to seek out an animal to feed on several days after emerging from
the water. Adult mosquitoes can live for a period of four to eight weeks.

Types of Malaria
There are four types of malaria, Plasmodium Vivax,
Plasmodium Malariae, Plasmodium Ovale and Plasmodium
Falciparum. The most serious type is Plasmodium Falciparum
malaria, (also known as PF Malaria) which can be the more life-
threatening. PF Malaria accounts for up to 80% of malaria
related deaths world wide and 90% of malaria related deaths in
sub Saharan Africa.

Malaria In Pregnant Women

Each year, approximately 50 million women living in malaria-
endemic countries throughout the world become pregnant, of
whom over half live in tropical areas of Africa with intense
transmission of Plasmodium Falciparum. An estimated 10,000
of these women and 200,000 of their infants die as a result of
malaria infection during pregnancy, and severe malarial
anaemia contributes to more than half of these deaths.

The following websites were used in the preparation of this article:

http://www.pa.msu.edu/sciencet/ask_st/061197.html
http://www.cdc.gov/malaria/faq.htm
http://science.howstuffworks.com/mosquito.htm
http://www.jhu.edu/~shcenter/malaria.html
http://www.drgreene.org/body.cfm?id=21&action=detail&ref=60
http://www.wisegeek.com/why-do-mosquitoes-bite.htm
http://www.loc.gov/rr/scitech/mysteries/mosquitoes.html
http://www.worldswimformalaria.com/en/AboutMalaria.aspx
http://www.amref.org/index.asp?PageID=50&PiaID=1
http://www.medindia.net/patients/patientinfo/mosquito.htm
http://www.westchestergov.com/health/WNVmosquito_life_cycle.htm
http://www.sbri.org/diseases/malaria.asp
http://www.rbm.who.int/cmc_upload/0/000/015/372/RBMInfosheet_1.pdf
http://www.malaria.org/malariaglossary.html
http://www.who.int/malaria/pregnantwomenandinfants.html