Malaria Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Malaria - Essay Example Anopheles plays a pivotal role in the development of Plasmodium. The growth of the microbe from the gametocytic stage to the sporozoite stage takes place inside the body of the female Anopheles. The body of the mosquito provides ambient temperature and humidity to the developing microbe and the female survives long enough to allow the parasite complete its lifecycle in the mosquito body. Anopheles breed on water and each species has its own preference when it comes to selection of breeding place for example some like puddles, shallow water, fresh water or even hoof prints. b. Apicomplexa protozoa: Plasmodium Apicomplexans are also known as sporozoans. All apicomplexans are obligatory and intracellular microbes i.e. they need to spend at least some part of their life cycle within an animal host. Important characteristics of apicomplexans include the presence of tiny organ like structures which are present at the very tips of the cells. These tiny organ-like structures contain enzymes which helps the microbe penetrate into the host tissue. One of the most well known and pathogenic genera of apicomplexans includes Plasmodium- which causes malaria. Plasmodium’s lifecycle is spent in two stages- in the body of mosquitoes and that of humans. It ultimately affects humans and causes rupture in the blood vessels. There are more than 100 Plasmodium species which can infects living organisms however only 4 of these species cause infection in humans- Plasmodium falciparum, Plasmodium vivax, Plasmodium ovale and Plasmodium malariae. The lifecycles of the four species affecting humans are similar. Lifecycle: The lifecycle begins when a female Anopheles carrying malaria parasite sucks... The paper talks about the cause of Malaria, lifecycle, diagnosis and treatment, development of a vaccine, advanced prophylaxis. According to the paper it is needless to say that malaria has been a curse on human health. However, the recent advances in development of vaccination are quite promising. Efforts need to be made to spread awareness about diagnosis and treatment to people who may not have access to them especially in the poor tropical countries. Future research should aim at not only developing vaccines but also developing better chemoprophylaxis agents. Worldwide the Anopheles mosquito is known as malaria mosquito because it is considered to be the primary vector for malaria. The anopheles mosquito is found worldwide except for in Antarctica. The disease is transmitted by the female anopheles. As the report says since malaria is worldwide public health problem, researchers have been trying to develop vaccines against the disease to lend protection against the parasites. The development of a vaccine would mean lower mortality, morbidity and economic costs involved with the treatment of the disease, awareness programs etc. the aim of the researchers are to wipe the disease from the earth. It was first in 1960, that it was thought that the development of a vaccine for malaria was feasible. It was seen that IrSp (irradiated sporozoites) rendered rodents immunized. Next the IrSp vaccine was tested on human volunteers with anopheles bite and it was seen that the vaccine was highly species specific. The multifactorial protection given by the vaccine involves direction of neutralized antibodies against circumsporozite and it is this idea that is today being researched upon to develop a better and much effective vaccine.