Malaria – The Key Facts

The key fact about Malaria are :
1. It is a disease transmitted by mosquitoes
2. The disease is passed by female Anopheles mosquitoes that bite at NIGHT
3. The mosquito injects parasites into the blood which take less that 30 minutes to reach the liver
4. Once in the liver parasites develop until ready to leave and enter the blood stream where they attack red blood cells
5. One bite is enough to give you malaria
6. It affects over 40% of the worlds population infecting between 300 – 500 million people per year resulting in over a million deaths worldwide (>80% in Africa)
7. From the time one gets bitten to the time the symptoms start to appear can take between 7 and 60 days
8. There is no vaccination
9. Only falciparum malaria kills
10. Once correctly treated falciparum malaria can ONLY reoccur if the person is once again bitten by an infected mosquito
11. There are 3 other forms of malaria – vivax, ovale and malariae – these are very rarely fatal. However, even if correctly treated, these 3 forms of malaria can reoccur for many years without any new mosquito bite