Integrated Approach to Malaria Control

Abstract

Malaria draws global attention in a cyclic manner, with interest and associated financing waxing and waning according to political and humanitarian concerns. Currently we are on an upswing, which should be carefully developed. Malaria parasites have been eliminated from Europe and North America through the use of residual insecticides and manipulation of environmental and ecological characteristics; however, in many tropical and some temperate areas the incidence of disease is increasing dramatically. Much of this increase results from a breakdown of effective control methods developed and implemented in the 1960s, but it has also occurred because of a lack of trained scientists and control specialists who live and work in the areas of endemic infection. Add to this the widespread resistance to the most effective antimalarial drug, chloroquine, developing resistance to other first-line drugs such as sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine, and resistance of certain vector species of mosquito to some of the previously effective insecticides and we have a crisis situation. Vaccine research has proceeded for over 30 years, but as yet there is no effective product, although research continues in many promising areas. A global strategy for malaria control has been accepted, but there are critics who suggest that the single strategy cannot confront the wide range of conditions in which malaria exists and that reliance on chemotherapy without proper control of drug usage and diagnosis will select for drug resistant parasites, thus exacerbating the problem. An integrated approach to control using vector control strategies based on the biology of the mosquito, the epidemiology of the parasite, and human behavior patterns is needed to prevent continued upsurge in malaria in the endemic areas

Environmental factors affecting malaria parasite prevalence in rural Bolifamba, South- West Cameroon

“…In Zambia, multiple control interventions, including environmental management against Anopheles larval stages and improvement in hygiene and sanitation reduced the overall malaria incidence and mortality rates by approximately 50% [4]. In Europe and North America, malaria was eliminated through use of insecticides and manipulation of the environment [5]. Preliminary studies in Bolifamba indicate that malaria transmission is perennial [6] with Anopheles mosquitoes occurring throughout the year.…”

Can Anopheles gambiae Be Infected with Wolbachia pipientis ? Insights from an In Vitro System

“…Plasmodium parasites responsible for human malaria are obligately dependent on mosquitoes of the genus Anopheles for transmission from one human host to the next, with Anopheles gambiae being the primary vector in Africa (8). There is no vaccine currently available for malaria treatment, and therefore, control of the disease is limited to antiparasitic drugs and control of the mosquito vectors (2,22). Control of the disease has been hampered by evolution of drug resistance in Plasmodium species (25), evolution of insecticide resistance in the mosquito vectors (12), and lack of basic public health infrastructure to sustain vector control efforts in problem areas (6,26).…”

Malaria Disease Diagnosis-Current Status of CAD Based Approach

“…The disease infected approximately 200 to 300 million people each year and the mortality rate was approximately 3 million per annum [8,9]. Statistics for the year 2010 indicated that almost half the population of the world, which was 3.3 billion people, could have fallen prey to malaria.…”