One of the major factors that has had a great effect on the successful treatment of malaria is the resistance that the malaria parasite has developed to some of the antimalarial medications that are widely used. One of the drugs that was commonly used for the treatment of malaria is chloroquine. The success of chloroquine in treating malaria led to it's wide use worldwide which in turn has led to the development of chloroquine resistant plasmodium strains. This resistance has created major public health issues across the globe.
Chloroquine became the drug of choice for malaria treatment towards the end of world war II. Initially, due to the great success of the use of chloroquine in malaria treatment and the success of DDT in controlling mosquitoes, campaigns for worldwide eradication of malaria were launched in some areas. Worldwide eradication was later found to be far fetched, hence these efforts were discontinued.
A specific gene has been found to be related to chloroquine resistance. This gene has been named the pfcrt gene. Eight distinct points of mutations have been identified on this gene as the significant differences between the chloroquine resistant and chloroquine sensitive strains of the parasite. Due to the development of these chloroquine resistant strains, the use of chloroquine has greatly reduced and other antimalarial drugs are being used instead of chloroquine.
References
1. Amercan Society of Health System , P. (2010, September 01).Chloroquine phosphate. Retrieved from http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/druginfo/meds/a682318.html
2. Wellems, T. E., & Plowe, C. W. (2001). Chloroquine resistant malaria. Journal of Infectious Disease,184(6), 770-776. Retrieved from http://jid.oxfordjournals.org/content/184/6/770.full
Monday, November 19, 2012
Factors That Increase Mortality due to Malaria
According to the World Health Organization, in 2010 there was an estimated 655 000 deaths related to malaria among African children. However, despite these high mortality rates, the World Health Organization has also stated that malaria is a preventable and curable disease. I will like to discuss some of the factors that contribute to the disproportionately high mortality rates as a result of malaria.
The first factor I will like to discuss is lack of access to quality medical care. A lot of the children that die from complications due to malaria are children that are affected by severe poverty and whose families lack the resources to seek appropriate medical care or to purchase the necessary medications.
The second factor I will like to discuss is delayed treatment. According to a study published in the Journal of Malaria, effective malaria controls are dependent on early diagnosis and treatment. When there is a delay in the diagnosis or treatment of uncomplicated malaria in the early stages, the chances of development of serious complications increase. Some of the reasons for delay in treatment in diagnosis might be that the physician was unable to make the diagnosis in a timely manner or the patient did not seek care in a timely manner.
The third factor I will like to discuss is the lack of education on the measures of prevention and personal protection in order to prevent malaria. As stated earlier, malaria is a preventable disease. The use of mosquito nets and insecticides are great prevention measures to avoid being bitten by the mosquitoes that carry the malaria parasites. People who are travelling to malaria endemic regions should be educated to use anti malarial medications for prevention before and during travel.
In response to the efforts of many global health organizations and non governmental organizations to try to alleviate some of these factors there has been some progress noted but this progress still remains very slow.
References
1. W.H.O. (2012, April). Malaria. Retrieved from http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs094/en/
2. Jayannath, S., Manoj, V. M., Naman, K. S., & Yvan, H. (2009). Risk factors for malaria deaths in jalpaiguri district, west bengal, india: evidence for further action. Malaria Journal, 8(133), 1475-2875. Retrieved from http://www.malariajournal.com/content/8/1/133
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