UN Holidays - World Malaria Day

Since 2007, every year, April 25 is celebrated as International Malaria Day This date was introduced by the World Assembly for Public Health and is dedicated to promoting strengthening measures to ensure the fight against this dangerous disease in all countries Malaria, formerly called swamp fever, is a parasitic disease that is accompanied by high fever, anemia and an enlarged spleen There are several types of pathology The heaviest is tropical Infection occurs from a sick person to a healthy person during blood-sucking mosquitoes There are other ways of transmitting infection: during blood transfusion and intrauterine transmission, when a sick pregnant woman infects her baby The parasites that enter the body through the bite of a female mosquito end up in the blood, and are then transferred to the liver, in the cells of which they begin to develop The incubation, so-called latent, stage of parasite development lasts from 7 days to 3 years The exact period will depend on the type of disease In tropical conditions, this period is short-lived, ranging from 8 to 2 weeks Symptoms of the development of pathology resemble general poisoning of the body This is severe weakness, a broken state, headaches and chills Afterwards, systematic attacks of fever are observed, the temperature rising to 40 C and above This condition lasts 3-4 hours and is accompanied by severe chills and excessive sweating In some situations, attacks of the disease occur without trembling in the body At the initial stage of malaria, the fever may be constant, without obvious attacks In this case, diagnosing the disease is very difficult If the pathology is detected too late, tropical malaria enters the malignant stage Lethal cases with this disease vary in the range of 10-40%, depending on the speed of initiation of the treatment course, proper selection of medications and the equipment of the medical institution Malaria develops quite severely; with untimely or incorrect treatment, the following complications can occur: anemia, disruption of the functioning of internal organs, decreased or complete loss of performance If treatment is stopped prematurely, the disease will return, and the patient will remain a source of infection for other people According to the International Health Organization, today 82 countries on the planet are classified as highly endemic and are actively fighting the disease Anyone planning a trip to the tropical countries of Africa, Southeast Asia, South and Central America should definitely undergo chemoprophylaxis, which involves taking antimalarial drugs 7 days before visiting a country where there is a threat of infection, you must begin a regular course of taking medications that protect the body The use of the medicine continues throughout your stay in a foreign country and 30 days after returning The choice of drug will depend on the country, and the dosage is determined by a specialist