Malaria is a disease that is spread by mosquitoes. Mosquitoes pick up malaria parasites from the blood of infected humans. While there is only one type of mosquito that can carry malaria parasites, there are four different types of malaria parasite, so there are four different types of malaria people can catch. Symptoms include fever, shivering, pain in the joints, headache, vomiting, convulsions, and -ultimately- coma. If an infected person is not treated, he or she can die.

The mosquitoes that carry malaria breed in warm, damp climates. As forests are bulldozed to build roads and housing in developing countries, conditions improve for mosquito breeding. War has also been identified as a factor that can increase malaria outbreaks. Refugees who spend long periods of time exposed to the elements and who travel across borders fleeing violence are more likely to come in contact with malaria-carrying mosquitoes.

But even ordinary travelers are at risk. Malaria-carrying mosquitoes can stow away on international flights and bring the disease far from infected areas. Geneva, Brussels, and Oslo have had outbreaks of “airport malaria” in the past few years. In fact, 30,000 cases of malaria were reported among Europeans traveling abroad in 2008-and the numbers are increasing.

The health threat posed by malaria is worsening because the disease is becoming resistant to the most common drug prescribed to prevent it, chloroquine. In some parts of Asia, the four main drugs used to fight malaria have become ineffective. Moreover, the mosquitoes that carry malaria are becoming resistant to pesticides. Unless new medicines and pesticides are developed soon, the numbers of people catching malaria and dying from it will rise.

* Picture Source: Wikimedia

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