Malaria: Understanding Transmission, Risks, and Prevalence

This report provides a comprehensive overview of malaria, a severe infectious disease transmitted through the larvae of Anopheles female mosquitoes. It details the mode of transmission, highlighting factors such as the parasite, vector, host, and environment. The report discusses risk factors, including living in or visiting prevalent regions, and outlines symptoms like fever, headache, and muscle pain. The incidence and prevalence sections present data from the WHO and CDC, showing global and U.S. statistics. The report emphasizes the need for chemoprophylaxis for U.S. citizens traveling to malaria-affected areas and includes references to relevant studies and reports. The report covers key aspects of malaria including transmission, risk factors, and global incidence, providing a valuable resource for understanding and addressing this significant public health concern.

Running head: MALARIA
Malaria
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MALARIA
Periods of exceptionally high rainfall, altered dampness or more elevated temperatures can lead
to a change in malaria distribution and length, even in areas where there is total control of the
surroundings (endmalaria.org, 2019).
MODE OF TRANSMISSION
Malaria is a severe infectious disease that spreads or is distributed to different people through the
larvae of affected Anopheles female mosquitoes (who.int, 2019). The capability of the spread
and occurrence of the disease depends on various factors such as the parasite, the vector, the host
such as human, and additionally the surrounding (endmalaria.org, 2019).
RISK FACTORS
Malaria causes fever, headache, and uneasiness, breathing problem, muscle pain and tiredness.
Living in or visiting regions where the disease is prevalent is the major risk factor for malaria
development. There are several kinds of parasites of malaria.
INCIDENCE AND PREVALENCE
According to the one of the latest WHO Malaria report, which was shared publicly on November
2018, it showed that on 2017 there were 219 million cases of Malaria, which elevated since 2016
when it was only 217 million cases. In 2017, around the whole world population was at the
danger of being affected by Malaria. Africa is the leading country where the maximum amount
of malaria cases are seen and from there, people travel to different places from which the disease
spreads. In the year 2017, 87 countries and their regions were affected by the malaria disease
(who.int, 2019). About 1,700 disease instances are detected annually in the United States. The

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vast bulk of incidence in the United States is seen in the travellers and immigrants arriving from
nations where malaria transmission happens are, many from sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia
(cdc.gov, 2018). CDC got records of 1,517 verified instances of Malaria, including one
congenital event, with an outbreak of diseases in the United States in 2015. Although the number
of cases of Malaria recorded in the U.S. has increased since the mid-1970s, from 2014 to 2015,
the number of instances reduced by 208 which is approximately 12.1% (cdc.gov, 2018).
Although Malaria is not prevalent in the U.S., Malaria in this nation leads to diseases and death.
Imported malaria instances can reintroduce Plasmodium parasites in receptive regions where the
disease is not prevalent, but there are prospective vectors, and climatic circumstances can help
the life cycle of the parasites. When travelling to a nation where the disease is widespread, the
most efficient strategy for U.S. citizens to avoid Malaria is to bring chemoprophylaxis
medication (Mace, Arguin & Tan, 2018).

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REFERENCES
About Malaria. (2018). Retrieved 5 August 2019, from
https://www.cdc.gov/malaria/about/index.html
Caminade, C., Kovats, S., Rocklov, J., Tompkins, A., Morse, A., & Colón-González, F. et al.
(2014). Impact of climate change on global malaria distribution. Proceedings Of The
National Academy Of Sciences, 111(9), 3286-3291. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1302089111
Climate Change and Malaria. (2015). Retrieved 21 July 2019, from
https://endmalaria.org/sites/default/files/RBM_Climate_Change_Fact-Sheet_170915.pdf
Communicable Diseases Module: 6. Factors that Affect Malaria Transmission: View as single
page. (2019). Retrieved from
https://www.open.edu/openlearncreate/mod/oucontent/view.php?id=89&printable=1
Fact sheet about Malaria. (2019). Retrieved from
https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/malaria
Key Challenges of Malaria Control in SEA Region. (2019). Retrieved from
http://www.searo.who.int/entity/malaria/topics/Topics_keychallenges_mal/en/
Kimbi, H. (2012). Environmental Factors and Preventive Methods against Malaria Parasite
Prevalence in Rural Bomaka and Urban Molyko, Southwest Cameroon. Journal Of
Bacteriology & Parasitology, 04(01). doi: 10.4172/2155-9597.1000162
Mace, K. E., Arguin, P. M., & Tan, K. R. (2018). Malaria surveillance—United States, 2015.
MMWR Surveillance Summaries, 67(7), 1.

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Mace, K.E., 2019. Malaria Surveillance—United States, 2016. MMWR. Surveillance Summaries,
68.