Malaria

Malaria (Italian: "bad air"; formerly called ague or marsh fever in English) is an infectious disease which in humans causes about 350-500 million infections and approximately 1.3 million deaths annually, mainly in the tropics. Sub-Saharan Africa accounts for 85% of these fatalities.{{mn|OnePointThree|1}}

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Italian - Ague - English - Infectious disease - Tropics - Sub-Saharan - Africa

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Malaria is caused by the protozoan parasite, Plasmodium (one of the Apicomplexa) and the transmission vector for human malarial parasite is the Anopheles mosquito. The P. falciparum variety of the parasite accounts for 80% of cases and 90% of deaths. Pregnant women and infants under the age of five are most vulnerable to malaria.

Related Topics:
Protozoa - Parasite - Plasmodium - Apicomplexa - Vector - Anopheles - Mosquito - P. falciparum

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For his discovery of the cause of malaria, French army doctor Charles Louis Alphonse Laveran was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1907. Britain's Sir Ronald Ross also received a Nobel prize (in 1902) for describing the life cycle of the malaria parasite as it develops in the bodies of its mosquito and human hosts.

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Charles Louis Alphonse Laveran - Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine - 1907 - Sir Ronald Ross

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