What is Malaria?
What is Malaria?
- Malaria: A parasitic disease transmitted through mosquito bites.
- Malaria: protozoan disease caused in humans by four species of the genus Plasmodium (P. falciparum, P. vivax, P. ovale, and P. malariae) and transmitted by the bite of an infected female mosquito of the genus Anopheles; malaria is endemic in parts of Asia, Africa, Central and South America, Oceania, and certain Caribbean islands; characterized by extreme exhaustion associated with paroxysms of high fever, sweating, shaking chills, and anemia; malaria in animals is caused by other species of plasmodia.
Source - Diseases Database
- Malaria: an infective disease caused by sporozoan parasites that are transmitted through the bite of an infected Anopheles mosquito; marked by paroxysms of chills and fever.
Source - WordNet 2.1
Malaria is listed as a "rare disease" by the Office of
Rare Diseases (ORD) of the National Institutes of Health
(NIH). This means that Malaria, or a subtype of Malaria,
affects less than 200,000 people in the US population.
Source - National Institutes of Health (NIH)
Ophanet, a consortium of European partners,
currently defines a condition rare when it affects 1 person per 2,000.
They list Malaria as a "rare disease".
Source - Orphanet
Malaria: Introduction
Types of Malaria:
Types of Malaria:
Broader types of Malaria:
How many people get Malaria?
Incidence (annual) of Malaria: 1,800 cases annually (1997); 1,666 annual cases notified in USA 1999 (MMWR 1999)
Incidence Rate of Malaria: approx 1 in 151,111 or 0.00% or 1,800 people in USA [about data]
Worldwide incidence of Malaria:
300 to 500 million people develop malaria
Prevalance of Malaria:
In the United States, approximately 1,000
cases are reported annually, which researchers estimate represent only 25
to 50 percent of actual cases. (Source: excerpt from Microbes in Sickness and in Health - Publications, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases: NIAID)
Who gets Malaria?
Geography Profile for Malaria: Countries in tropical Africa account for more than 90 percent of the
cases and more than 6 percent occur in India, Brazil, Sri Lanka,
Afghanistan, Vietnam and Colombia. (Source: excerpt from Malaria, NIAID Fact Sheet: NIAID)
How serious is Malaria?
Complications of Malaria:
see complications of Malaria
What causes Malaria?
Causes of Malaria: see causes of Malaria
Risk factors for Malaria:
see
risk factors for Malaria
What are the symptoms of Malaria?
Symptoms of Malaria:
see symptoms of Malaria
Complications of Malaria:
see complications of Malaria
Incubation period for Malaria: 10-16 days; 1-4 weeks depending on type; longer for people unsuccessfully taking antimalarials.
Incubation period for Malaria: Malaria symptoms can develop as soon as 6-8 days
after being bitten by an infected mosquito, or as late as several months
after departure from a malarious area (after antimalarial drugs are
discontinued). (Source: excerpt from Facts About Transfusion-Transmitted Malaria: CDC-OC)
Can anyone else get Malaria?
Contagion of Malaria: Spread by mosquito bites; rarely by other blood methods (transfusions, sharing needles); also mother-infant transplacental transmission
More information:
see contagiousness of Malaria
Inheritance:
see inheritance of Malaria
Malaria: Testing
Diagnostic testing: see tests for Malaria.
Misdiagnosis: see misdiagnosis and Malaria.
How is it treated?
Treatments for Malaria:
see treatments for Malaria
Prevention of Malaria:
see prevention of Malaria
Research for Malaria:
see research for Malaria
Society issues for Malaria
Hospitalization statistics for Malaria:
The following are statistics from various sources about hospitalizations and Malaria:
- 0.011% (1,432) of hospital consultant episodes were for plasmodium falciparum malaria in England 2002-03 (Hospital Episode Statistics, Department of Health, England, 2002-03)
- 86% of hospital consultant episodes for plasmodium falciparum malaria required hospital admission in England 2002-03 (Hospital Episode Statistics, Department of Health, England, 2002-03)
- 61% of hospital consultant episodes for plasmodium falciparum malaria were for men in England 2002-03 (Hospital Episode Statistics, Department of Health, England, 2002-03)
- 39% of hospital consultant episodes for plasmodiumfFalciparum malaria were for women in England 2002-03 (Hospital Episode Statistics, Department of Health, England, 2002-03)
- 94% of hospital consultant episodes for plasmodium falciparum malaria required emergency hospital admission in England 2002-03 (Hospital Episode Statistics, Department of Health, England, 2002-03)
- more statistics...»
Name and Aliases of Malaria
Main name of condition: Malaria
Class of Condition for Malaria: parasite protozoa
Other names or spellings for Malaria:
Ague, Jungle fever, Marsh fever, Malarial fever, Swamp fever, Paludism, Acute malaria, Chronic malaria
Acute malaria, Chronic malaria, Swineherd's disease, Weil Disease, Cane-cutter fever, Canicola fever, Hemorrhagic jaundice, Icterohemorrhagic fever, Leptospirosis, Mud fever, Rice-field fever, Stuttgart disease
Source - Office of Rare Diseases (ORD) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH)
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