Malaria Disease Lab Report

The Malaria disease made its first appearance more than 4000 years ago. It used to be one of the diseases that people feared the most. About 655,000 people die from Malaria in 2010, about 200 people per day. In that year, 90% of the deaths occurred in the WHO region, Africa. Most of the Africans were women and children under the age of 5. (World Heath Organization, 2012) First of all, to know that u have Malaria, your body will start acting strange. You will get a headache, a high fever, your back and muscles will feel pain and your coughs will be dry. Malaria is caused by a parasite called Plasmodium. The parasites grow in our liver and then they attack our red blood cells. (Malaria Symptoms and causes , 2011)

The female Anopheles mosquito is the one that most people get the disease from. The disease can be transmitted through blood transfusion, organ transplant, or any connection with blood. (Malaria Symptoms and causes , 2011) I think that the best methods of protection against Malaria are Doxycycline and Taking anti malaria medications for malaria prophylaxis. This can help stop the disease from spreading. Even though mosquito nets can be used to stop or slow down Malaria, it has both advantages and disadvantages against many factors. Science can be used to solve the malaria problem. It can be used to create cures and vaccines to kill the Malaria inside your body or even stop it from going airborne.

Using Doxycycline to prevent Malaria has many disadvantages in different factors. In our social life, the protection might not be that strong and we could transmit it. For example, Women who are pregnant cannot use this drug, so does children under 8 years old. Sometimes, we also don’t want to take medicines every day. Another disadvantage of it is against your health. Most people that doxycycline are afraid that they might have an upset stomach. Also, if you use this drug and stay out in the sun too long, you will have in increased risk if sun sensitivity. Women who are prone to having vaginal yeast infections while they are taking anti-biotic might choose to take a different kind of medicine, because this medicine may have a chance to harm them. Anti-Malaria medications that are used for Malaria prophylaxis might be a bit expensive for some people in some countries in the world.

Although it is expensive, it helps a lot, because if you were using a mosquito net or some other kind of protection and somehow you manage to catch Malaria, this medicine can help stop the disease from spreading or stop you from catching it. (Choosing drugs to prevent Malaria, 2011) Also, if you use this disease, you should consider avoiding dairy products, also calcium and zinc because it will affect your body on how much doxycycline works on you. This might be a problem for some people because humans sometimes have problems in their bodies and need extra calcium to help ourselves. Also, doxycycline has side effects that may hurt you. For example, you might get diarrhea, sun sensitivity that can easily give you sunburn and for women, vaginal yeast infection.

Even though there are quite a few disadvantages using the doxycycline to protect you from Malaria, there are also some good to this way of protection. Maybe you will be travelling to some place that has Malaria soon, and you don’t have the time to protect yourself from the disease, this drug is good for people who weren’t prepared until the last minute. You also have to take it daily in the Malaria infected area, and four weeks daily after leaving the area. (Doxycyline for Malaria, 2011) (Choosing drugs to prevent Malaria, 2011)Doxycycline is also considered to be the least expensive material used for anti-malaria, so even people that are living in poor areas with Malaria can afford to buy it. Doxycycline isn’t just used to prevent Malaria; it can also help prevent acne. It can also help you prevent other diseases such as Rickettsia and leptospirosis, so people that likes to hike, camp or swim in fresh water prefer this drug while going on outdoor trips. (Doxycyline for Malaria, 2011) It is also very affective.

Malaria has affected many areas in the world, and had once killed about half the world’s population today. The pains you will feel if you have Malaria is also quite deadly. One of the best options to use against Malaria is using Doxycycline. It is one of the cheapest anti-malaria medicines to own and many people living in poor areas and is infected with Malaria can afford it. For example, in Africa, there are many LEDC countries and in 2010, when the world lost 3.3 billion people to Malaria, most of them are in Africa. By using doxycycline, many poor, malaria-infected people can stop malaria from infecting them, or maybe even stop from spreading. Even though many people today consider doxycycline as their first option, there will still be many disadvantages in different factors such as on your health. The drug can cause many side effects to your body. Still, it is very useful for travellers that will be travelling to Malaria infected areas.