Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: UMLS:C0024530 (malaria)
 44,886 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Some 9% of deaths in Ghana are attributed to malaria, which also accounts for 30% of outpatient visits and 9% of hospital admissions. A survey conducted in four areas of Ghana revealed that the factors perceived as causing malaria included malnutrition, mosquitos, excessive heat, excessive drinking, flies, fatigue, dirty surroundings, unsafe water, bad air, and poor personal hygiene. Most adolescents had no idea how the disease was spread from person to person. The symptoms most frequently considered to be linked to malaria were yellowing of the eyeballs, chills and shivering, headache, a bitter taste, body weakness, and yellowish urine. Malaria was considered to be the most important disease in the communities of Kojo Ashong, Barekese, Barekuma and Oyereko. There was a widespread understanding that malaria adversely impacted the ability of adults to work and of children to attend school. Herbal preparations for self-medication included liquids for drinking, liquids for use as enemas, and potions for hot fomentation. Most people used the leaves of the neem tree (Adzadi rachta indica) to make such preparations. Most interviewees were aware of chloroquine used in the treatment of malaria. A few people sprayed their rooms with insecticide before going to bed in order to kill mosquitos, while others used repellent coils. Bednets were rarely used. There was little knowledge of how the transmission cycle of the parasite could be broken. One social implication of the disease is that if the breadwinner dies, the children may have to cease attending school. For Africa as a whole the annual economic burden of malaria was $ 0.8 billion in 1987; by 1995 it is expected to be $ 1.7 billion. The first step in any control program should be to educate the people about the cause and treatment of the disease. District assemblies should enact bylaws on the cleanliness of households, which inspectors should enforce.
 ...
PMID:Socioeconomic factors in malaria control. 794 58

One hundred and five healthy nonimmunes in Colombia took part in a randomize, double-blind comparison of 250 mg of Lariam (L) (active ingredient: mefloquine) on alternate weeks or one tablet of Fansidar (F) (active ingredients: sulfadoxine and pyrimethamine) weekly for malaria prophylaxis during at least six months. Volunteers also gave blood for determination of drug concentrations after six months and/or 24-27 months of prophylaxis. Twenty-five volunteers withdrew involuntarily when they lost their jobs in the company. Two who took L withdrew due to moderate diarrhea and mild nausea or headache, weakness, drowsiness and anxiety. One volunteer stopped taking F due to severe unilateral hypostatic eczema and slight S-T depressions on the ECG. The rest completed at least six (range 6-36) months of prophylaxis. The mean half-life for L was 26 days. The AUCs in the time interval 0-14 days for L varied between 19.3-31.5 mumol x days/l. For the main metabolite, the corresponding range was 28.8-81.3 mumol x days/l. The range of trough concentrations at day 0 and 14 were 0.95-2.01 mumol/l for L and 1.69-5.62 mumol/l for the metabolite. No differences in tolerability and efficacy were noted between L and F. Our kinetic results do not indicate that enzymatic induction or inhibition would be important during long-term prophylaxis with mefloquine. This favors a continued use of the drug for very long periods of time (= years).
 ...
PMID:Comparative tolerability and kinetics during long-term intake of Lariam and Fansidar for malaria prophylaxis in nonimmune volunteers. 825 6

Malaria was endemic in the United States before World War II. However, locally acquired malaria was thought to have been eradicated. Since the mid-1980s, cases of locally acquired malaria have been described. We report the case of a 62-year-old man who came to the Houston Veterans Affairs Medical Center with fever, malaise, and weakness and was found to have Plasmodium vivax infection on peripheral blood smear. He had not left the country for 37 years and had no previous history of malaria. On specific questioning, he mentioned heavy exposure to mosquitoes. Thus, malaria was presumably transmitted locally by mosquitoes. Subsequently, two other cases of apparently locally acquired, mosquito-transmitted malaria were identified in Houston. Symptoms, signs, and general laboratory test results do not typically suggest a specific diagnosis. Therefore, malaria should be considered in all patients with febrile illnesses, even those without a history of travel.
 ...
PMID:Mosquito-transmitted malaria acquired in Texas. 863 3

The Plateau, or more precisely the highlands, cover most of the central part of Madagascar with an altitude higher than 1,000 m. There the climate is tropical with a wet and hot season, from October through April coincident with further outbreaks of malaria. This alternates with a dry season from May through September when the temperature is not favorable to the development of the vectors and the extrinsic cycle of the parasite. The malaria is unstable. The short season of transmission is sometimes amplified by abnormally abundant rain or higher than average temperatures. The population can hardly develop self-protection. The epidemics are deadly. The transmission essentially occurs with Anopheles arabiensis, a zoophile species, exophage and occasionally anthropophile and A. funestus anthropophile and endophile. Starting in 1949, a program for fighting malaria was founded on drug prophylaxis and spraying persistent insecticides within the homes. This approach gave spectacular results with a prolonged elimination of the disease, the consequence of which was the establishment of the Zone of Surveillance of the High Plateau (ZSHP). With decreasing efforts of the fight, the transmission progressively resumed starting in 1975 with outbreaks of epidemics. The most deadly outbreak was between 1984 and 1987, marked by an increase of morbidity and mortality. The factors which favored further outbreaks of malaria are listed as follows: 1) a slackening of the surveillance system; 2) the socio-economic context leading to the weakness of the national sanitary system and the inaccessibility of the antimalaria medication for the rural masses; 3) the reappearance of A. funestus, an excellent vector which had been eliminated by the treatments between 1949 and 1960; 4) after the previous elimination, the quasi-total absence of self-protection for the population when subjected to a series of cyclones; 5) movements of nonprotected travellers migrating for agricultural work from the highlands towards the coasts or the slopes which are zones of more stable malaria. Starting in 1988, the Madagascan sanitary authorities, with international and bilateral help, established a strategic approach based on early drug therapy and spraying within the homes with DTT pm 75 at a dose of 2 g/m2. These operations could cover some focalized zones with habitants, numbering 720,000 from 1988 to 1989; 380,000 from 1989 to 1990; 480,000 from 1990 to 1991; and 2,400,000 from 1993 to 1994. The evaluation of the efficacy of these methods in fighting malaria showed spectacular and conclusive results for the epidemiological plan, including less prevalence of the parasite, morbidity and mortality. In addition, there were important impacts on the vectors, including decreases of vector-human contact, residual fauna and longevity.
 ...
PMID:[Vector control in the epidemics of the Madagascar highlands]. 878 47

Epidemic emergencies have shown increasing trend in India and most parts of the country appear to be vulnerable to these emergencies. In this paper we present a profile of epidemic emergencies attended by the National Institute of Communicable Diseases in the last five years, to delineate aspects that will promote better preparedness and management. Water borne and water related disease epidemics constituted more than 70% of the epidemic emergencies in India. Non 01 cholera epidemics constituted one fourth of total cholera epidemics during 1991-95. Most of the hepatitis outbreaks were attributed to Non A Non B. The source of infection in majority of the cholera and jaundice epidemics was contaminated water. Dengue and resistant typhoid fever were among other emergencies reported during last five years. Some of these epidemic were reported to local health authorities as mysterious diseases due to lack of public health laboratory facilities. Encephalitis and encephalitis like epidemics in the form of Liquor poisoning and chronic Heat syndrome encephalopathy were also observed. The re-emerging disease epidemics like plague in Beed, Pneumonic plague in Surat and malaria in Rajasthan were also investigated during 1994. These observations indicate the weakness in the epidemiological and laboratory surveillance besides inadequacy in water management practices and other socio environmental reasons.
 ...
PMID:Profile of epidemic emergencies in India during 1991-95. 881 Jan 49

Thirty five patients with imported malaria were hospitalised in a period of 1980-93 in Department of Infectious Diseases of Pomeranian Medical School, Szczecin, Poland. The diagnosis of malaria was established on a base of clinical feature, the presence of Plasmodium in peripharal blood smears and, in some cases, on positive serological tests. Thirty two patients were Polish citizens, and three persons were foreigners. Malaria was caused mostly by invasion of Plasmodium falciparum (62.8), then P. vivax (31, 4), in 1 case--P. ovale and 1 case--mixed invasion occurred (P. falciparum and P. vivax). The majority of cases caused by P. falciparum were imported from Central Africa. Invasions of P. vivax were brought from North Africa, India and Middle East. Malaria in Polish patients was connected with occupational exposure and lack of proper antimalarial prophylaxis was obvious. A clinical course of disease was serious, with one mortal case. Fever, headache, abdominal pain, weakness, jaundice, insomnia were main complaints. Anemia, leucopenia, thrombocytopenia, hyperbilirubinemia, hypertransaminasemia and high serum concentration of urea were observed. A level of parasitemia in peripheral blood varied from minimal to very high (22.5%) in cases of P. falciparum invasions. In treatment chloroquine, fansidar, quinine, primaquine, halfan were used.
 ...
PMID:[Observation of patients with malaria hospitalized during the years 1980-1993 in the Clinic of Infectious Diseases in Szczecin]. 886 94

This study was performed to assess the sentinel surveillance system on malaria resistance in Cote d'Ivoire using a new method. Evaluation was based on documentation describing routine products and on activity reports obtained from the surveillance system. A qualitative approach was used to assess system design and quantitative approach to assess its operation. Degree of satisfaction with evaluation criteria was scored on a scale of 1 to 5. Score reproducibility in this study was good. Overall the system was considered as satisfactory. The strong points of the system are relevance, functions, sustainability, and data quality. The weak points are poor planning, overcentralization, and underuse of information. Correction of these weakness will require concentration by all parties at the national level involved in the surveillance system. The evaluation method used was simple, cheap and reproducible and thus could serve as an alternative approach for evaluation of sentinel surveillance systems in areas with scarce resources.
 ...
PMID:[Evaluation of the Ivory Coast sentinel surveillance system for antimalarial drug sensitivity]. 913 92

For centuries Peruvians distinguished malaria from other conditions with different names in Spanish and in the native languages because it was a frequent occurrence in the coast and in the jungle located in the west and east of the Andean highlands. Frequency in different local contexts generated different meanings of malaria that appear more clearly when studying the campaigns of control and eradication of the 20th century. These meanings played an important role in the divisions and tensions that cross race, national integrity, and regional identity in this Andean country. This work deals with the medical and social dimensions of malaria's control and eradication efforts and the ways in which they codified geographical and racial distinctions within peru. Because malaria does not develop in the highlands, Andean migrants to the coast and the jungle regions are particularly susceptible. Some doctors associated the disease with Andean people, even contending that it was an indication of "Indians" weakness. Finally, this article analyses the spread and containment of malaria in light of the world eradication campaign initiated in the late 1950s and with regard to mass migration, urbanization, and other 20th-century phenomena.
 ...
PMID:The meanings of control and eradication of malaria in the Andes. 965 44

The study of malarial seroprevalence in Dakar has interested 598 women among whom 377 pregnant and 221 non pregnant, between 15 to 45 years old and happens during the dry season, period of which malaria transmission is practically stopped in the locality. Among the tested serums by indirect immunofluorescence with Plasmodium falciparum asexual blood forms as antigen, 24.4% contained antimalarial antibodies. The serological index does'nt vary significantly according to the months during the dry season, the women age and their previous pregnancy number. On the contrary, the women who live in Dakar since less than 2 years, have e higher seropositivity rate of 33.7% than those who are there since more than 2 years, 20.0%. It is likewise for the women practicing chemoprophylaxy with chloroquine of whom 16.5% have antibodies against 26.0% among those who don't practice it. The seropositivity rate doesn't vary significantly according as the women are pregnant (24.7% of positive) or not pregnant (24.0% of positive). The weakness of the serological rate in the examined women, can be explained by the situation of Dakar in a weak malarial hypoendemic area. II shows that the major examined subjects have lost or have never had contact with Plasmodium what predispose them to make severe and complicated malarial attacks.
 ...
PMID:[Prevalence of malaria in Dakar, Senegal. Results of serological survey of pregnant and non-pregnant women]. 982 21

Two adult males were admitted with acute are flexic quadriplegia and bifacial and bulbar weakness 2 weeks after an acute episode of malaria, one due to Plasmodium falciparum infection (patient 1) and the other due to Plasmodium vivax (patient 2). Cerebrospinal fluid analysis and nerve conduction studies confirmed the diagnosis of Guillain-Barre syndrome (GBS). Patient 1 progressed to develop respiratory paralysis and required mechanical ventilation. He received intravenous immunoglobulins for the GBS and made a complete recovery in 6 weeks. A review of 11 cases of GBS (nine previously reported and the present two) revealed that eight patients had preceding falciparum malaria and three had vivax infection. All but two patients had distal symmetric sensory deficits. Paralysis was mild in seven cases (three due to P. vivax and four due to P. falciparum) and recovered completely in 2-6 weeks without any specific treatment. Four patients with falciparum malaria developed severe paralysis with respiratory failure, and three patients died. One patient who received intravenous immunoglobulins recovered completely (patient 1 in this report).
 ...
PMID:Guillain-Barre syndrome following malaria. 1009 May 9


<< Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Next >>