Malaria

When I signed up for this topic in class I thought that it would have the most information. Unfortunately when I type in anything about European Colonization and Malaria, the most relevant information I get is that Historians speculate that Europeans brought malaria to Africa, and many Africans died as a result. This also held true for when Europeans came to America and brought with them diseases that the Native American's died from. This disease came to Africa many centuries earlier but still seems to be an epidemic in Africa.

Malaria is a vector-borne infectious disease caused by protozoan parasites. According to Wikipedia malaria is spread through mosquito bites which transfer the parasites from one host to another. These parasites then multiple on red blood cells very quickly. Upon further investigation I found the symptoms of malaria which sound aweful. Malaria attacks usually last 4 to 6 hours with shaking chills, fever and sweating. They are normally associated with fatigue, headaches, dizziness, nausea, abdominal pain, cough, muscle and joint pain and back aches. The attacks usually occur every other day or every third day. There are preventative medications available for this horrible disease, but for most people living in Africa and other affected areas they are too expensive.

Malaria still reeks havoc on African civilization an estimated 300 to 500 million cases emerge each year. It causes 1.5 to 2.7 million deaths per year, with over 90% being children under 5 years old. These cases in Africa account for more than 90% of the malaria cases in the world.

One very interesting fact I found about malaria is where this disease is prevolent, the disorder, Sickle Cell Anemia is not present. According to Wikipedia, one or two alleles of the sickle-cell disease are resistant to malaria since the sickle red blood cells are not conductive to the parasite - in areas where malaria is common.