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Health Officials Concerned
Over Increase in Malaria
The Ministerio de Salud (Health
Ministry) is pleased with it's
efforts to combat Dengue that
affected more than 31.000 people
this year, and responsible for
two deaths. However, it is
worried of the increase in the
cases of Malaria.
In the last two weeks, there was
no increase in the number of
Dengue cases, holding steady at
the 31.000 affected mark, but
are Salud officials are
concerned for the 2.411 cases of
Malaria for this year, 1.122
more than in 2004.
The province of Limón is the
area with the most cases of
Malaria, with 2.280, followed by
the Northen zone.
Teresita Solano, head of the
Unidad de Epidemiología del
Ministerio de Salud, attributes
the high number of cases of
Malaria to the tropical climate
and especially deforestation and
changes to the environment in
the agricultural areas.
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.
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.
Symptoms
Symptoms of malaria include
fever, shivering, arthralgia
(joint pain), vomiting, anemia,
and convulsions. There may be
the feeling of tingling in the
skin, particularly with malaria
caused by P. falciparum.
Complications of malaria include
coma and death if
untreated—young children are
especially vulnerable.
Splenomegaly (enlarged spleen),
intense headaches, cerebral
ischemia and hemoglobinuria with
renal failure may occur.
Treatment and prevention
If diagnosed early, malaria
can be treated, but prevention
is always much better.
For prevention, emphasis should
be laid on 1. exposition
prophylaxis (use of bednets and
screening at night and use of
repellents such as DEET and
long-sleeved clothing) 2.
chemo-prophylaxis using certain
antimalarial drugs (especially
for non-immune travellers)
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