Malaria
Malaria parasites have been with us since the beginning of time, and
fossils of mosquitoes up to thirty million years old show that malaria's vector
has existed for just as long. The parasites causing malaria are highly specific,
with man as the only host and mosquitoes as the only vector. Every year,
300,000,000 people are affected by malaria, and while less than one percent of
these people die, there are still an estimated 1,500,000 deaths per year. While
Malaria was one of the first infectious diseases to be treated successfully with
a drug, scientist are still looking for a cure or at least a vaccination today
(Cann, 1996). Though many people are aware that malaria is a disease, they are
unaware that it is life threatening, kills over a million people each year, and
is a very elusive target for antimalarial drugs (Treatment of Malaria, 1996).
Being a very specific disease, malaria is caused by only four protozoal
parasites: Plasmodium falciparum, Plasmodium......
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