University:
The University Of Western Ontario
Course:
Biology 2290F | Scientific Method in Biology
Academic year:

2024
Views:

452

Pages:

2
Author:

Kyuwon J.

Malaria disease ● Incubation period : 7 to 30 days ● stages of uncomplicated malaria ○ Cold stage (cold sensation, shivering) ○ Hot stage( fever, headache, vomiting seizures in young children) ○ Sweating stage(sweats, return to normal temperature, tiredness) ● Severe malaria-untreated ○ Serious organ failure( kidney failure, seizure, mental confusion, coma, death) ● Relapsing Malaria: P.vivax, P.ovale ● Immunity ○ Frequently infected individuals can develop protection from disease leading cause of death in low-income countries worldwide in 2021 Why does malaria disease occur most frequently in sub-saharan Africa? ● Anopheles gambiae transmits malaria efficiently ● P.falciparum is common and causes severe potentially fatal disease ● Lack of resources and health infrastructures ○ limit development of malaria control program ○ lack of healthcare access for many ● Drug resistance Malaria has shaped human evolution ● One of the strongest selective pressures on the human genome since the origin of agriculture 10,000 years ago ● Mutation in B-globin subunits of hemoglobin ○ Causes sickle cell anemia in people with two copies of mutant gene ○ Provides resistance against malaria in people with one copy of mutant gene ○ Benefit of resistance to malaria offset the cost of sickle cell anemia during human evolution mutation spread and remained present in people in areas of endemic malaria disease (sub-Saharan Africa) ● Malaria is such an important disease of humans we have evolved to combat it History of malaria ● Ancient history ○ Clay tablet in Mesopotamia(2000 BC) ○ Ancient Indian and Chinese (2700 BC) ● Malaria and the fall of Rome ○ The malaria epidemic of 79 AD devastated the fertile marshy croplands surrounding the city causing local farmers to abandon their fields and village ● Idea that malarial fevers were caused by miasmas rising from swamps persisted for over 2500 years ● But nowhere past or present has malaria had a greater impact than Africa ○ Benefited on repelling European invaders Malaria in North America ● Plasmodium genetic analysis suggest malaia was introduced to Americas from Africa by European slave ships ● American Revolutionary war in 1780s ● World War 2 ● Canada ○ Early settlers in Ontario experience malarial disease which they called fever and agues ○ Workers building the Rideau Canal system linking Kingston and Ottawa were constantly plagued by malaria.