Malaria
Malaria is a serious
infectious
disease. It is one of the intermittent fevers which have a tendency to
return. The word malaria comes from the Italian malaria, meaning bad
air
as it was once supposed to be caused by bad air. It is one of the most
wide spread diseases in the world, especially in tropical and
subtropical
regions.
Symptoms
There are three main
types
of malaria, depending upon the parasite which causes it. These are
vivax,
falciparum and malaria, commonly called tertian fever, quarter fever
and
the malignant tertian malaria. The most common symptom of all types of
malaria is high fever, which may come every day, on alternate days or
every
fourth day. The fever is accompanied by chills, headache, shivering and
pain in the limbs. The temperature comes down after some time with
profuse
sweating. One of the main effects of malaria is anemia. Other
complications
of the disease are kidney failure and dysentery.
Causes
Malaria is caused by
a tiny
parasite called plasmodium. The parasites grow in the liver of a person
for a few days and then enter the bloodstream where they invade the red
blood cells.
The disease is
spread from
a sick person to a healthy one by the female anopheles mosquito. She
draws
a small quantity of blood containing the parasites, when she bites a
person
who has malaria. These parasites then pass through several stages of
development
within the mosquito’s body and finally find their way to its salivary
glands.
There they lie in wait for an opportunity to enter the bloodstream of
the
next person.
The real cause of
malaria,
however, as in case of other infectious diseases, is wrong feeding
habits
and faulty style of living, resulting in the system being clogged with
accumulated systemic refuse and morbid mater. It is on this soil that
the
malaria germs breed. The liberal use of denatured foods of today such
as
white sugar, white flour and products made from them, as well as tinned
foods, strong tea, coffee and alcoholic beverages, lower the vitality
of
the system and paves the way for the development of malaria.
Treatment
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