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

Since about 250 BC, human modification of African environments has created increasingly favourable breeding conditions for Anopheles gambiae. Subsequent adaptations to the increased malaria risk are briefly described and reference is made to Macdonald's mathematical model for the disease. Since values for the variables in that model are high in tropical Africa, there is little possibility that simple, inexpensive, self-help primary health care initiatives can control malaria in the region. However, in combination with more substantial public health initiatives, simple primary health care activities might be done by communities to (1) prevent mosquitos from feeding on people, (2) prevent or reduce mosquito breeding, (3) destroy adult mosquitos, and (4) eliminate malaria parasites from human hosts. Lay methods of protection and self-care are examined and some topics for further research are indicated. Culturally appropriate health education methods are also suggested.
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PMID:Human ecology and behaviour in malaria control in tropical Africa. 633 85

Lay people in malaria-affected regions frequently have to choose from many over-the-counter malaria management drugs, requiring them to be able to identify these medications and distinguish between them. Lay people make these distinctions at two levels - age of the patient and the whether he or she has fever, pain or malaria. Sometimes decisions are based on incorrect information given by friends and relatives, causing prolonged suffering to the patient, exacerbating chloroquine resistance and leading to resistance to the sulfodoxine/pyrymethamine drugs now recommended as first-line treatment in Kenya.
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PMID:Home case management of malaria: an ethnographic study of lay people's classification of drugs in Suneka division, Kenya. 1058 67

We examine how southwestern Burkina Faso populations interpret political ecological and social change for the past 40 years to assert a changing epidemiology of childhood "cold fevers"-malaria-like illnesses. Lay knowledge about "cold fevers" is historically produced, reflecting political economic, social, ecological and biomedical changes, and the historical consciousness of people living with these illnesses. While informants insisted that dislocations wrought by a post-colonial irrigation scheme increased cold fevers, they offered different explanations for their increased incidence and intensity. This historical epidemiology of cold fevers may influence parents' care decisions, but global public health interventions are rapidly changing therapeutic access.
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PMID:Malaria, environmental change, and an [corrected] historical epidemiology of childhood 'cold fevers': popular interpretations from southwestern Burkina Faso. 2150 4

Lay perspectives and health-seeking behaviour for malaria were investigated in an ethnographic study carried out in a village in south-eastern Tanzania. The inhabitants have easy access to hospital services and education programmes, and as a result, biomedical knowledge on malaria is comparatively high. However, the cultural model of malaria does not always explain all the events that occur during an actual illness episode, e.g. when the disease cannot be detected at the hospital or the symptoms persist despite antimalarial treatment. Under these circumstances, the model of malaria may be complemented with the logic of witchcraft. This can lead people to consult sequentially both biomedical and traditional health services for the same illness episode. The consequences can include non-compliance with treatment or delay in seeking diagnosis or treatment. Our analysis offers elements for the understanding of aspects of the dynamics of reinterpretation and health-seeking behaviour for malaria, particularly in the phase after diagnosis and treatment at a biomedical health facility. The research is presented with an applied perspective. We propose specific recommendations that could be discussed with health promoters.
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PMID:Fake malaria and hidden parasites-the ambiguity of malaria. 2686 38

The goal of this study was to assess morbidity, mortality, and health-seeking behaviours during the 2014 Ebola outbreak in Monrovia, Liberia. This study examined commonly reported symptoms of illness, pre-clinical diagnostic practices, typical healthcare-seeking strategies, and health resources available to populations, in order to identify salient needs and gaps in healthcare that would inform local emergency response efforts. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with household members in four Monrovia neighbourhoods. Researchers used a multi-stage cluster approach to recruit participants. Within 555 households sampled, 505 individuals were reported sick (69%) or recently sick (38%) or deceased (7%). Common self-diagnoses included malaria, hypertension, influenza, typhoid, and Ebola. The most cited health-seeking strategy was to purchase medications from the private sector. Respondents also obtained healthcare from community members known to have medical experience. Findings suggest that non-formal healthcare systems played an important role in managing morbidity during the West African Ebola virus disease (EVD) outbreak. Lay community members engaged in complex assessments of health symptoms and sought biomedical care at rates perhaps higher than anticipated during the response. This study highlights how informal networks of healthcare providers can play an important role in preventing and curbing future emerging disease outbreaks.
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PMID:Community-based reports of morbidity, mortality, and health-seeking behaviours in four Monrovia communities during the West African Ebola epidemic. 2746 79

Attempts to control malaria, AIDS, and maternal mortality in Africa have been woefully inadequate. This has involved adopting an almost exclusively technical preventive approach in the context of AIDS even though emphasizing human behavior holds the most promise. But on the other hand, it has also involved abandoning highly effective technical measures, as in the case of malaria. This suggests that the failure, at root, is anthropological in nature. The common element, it is argued here, is the failure to place the human ecology resolutely above destructive ideologies. Sound public-health approaches have been spurned in favor of predetermined preventive approaches in the service of ideological aims rather than of man and the common good. This article examines the ideological forces that have ultimately driven global health policy, and proposes that a more humane anthropology would be beneficial. Lay Summary: The scourges of malaria, AIDS, and maternal mortality have persisted in Africa, even though sensible and available means of addressing these epidemics, when stressed, have met with success. The reluctance to consistently emphasize the soundest public-health approaches-whether technical or behavioral in nature-indicate that global health policy has to a large extent been improperly concerned with advancing ideological agendas. The challenge we face today is not primarily technical but philosophical; the healing professions would perform a service by cultivating a higher view of man and an appreciation for objective moral truths that protect him.
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PMID:Neglecting human ecology: The common element of global health failures. 2783 84

It is known that there has been positive natural selection for hemoglobin S and C in humans despite negative health effects, due to its role in malaria resistance. However, it is not well understood, if there has been natural selection for hemoglobin E (HbE), which is a common variant in Southeast Asia. Therefore, we reviewed previous studies and discussed the potential role of natural selection in the prevalence of HbE. Our review shows that in vitro studies, evolutionary genetics studies and epidemiologic studies largely support an involvement of natural selection in the evolution of HbE and a protective role of HbE against malaria infection. However, the evidence is inconsistent, provided from different regions, and insufficient to perform an aggregated analysis such as a meta-analysis. In addition, few candidate gene, genome-wide association or epistasis studies, which have been made possible with the use of big data in the post-genomic era, have investigated HbE. The biological pathways linking HbE and malaria infection have not yet been fully elucidated. Therefore, further research is necessary before it can be concluded that there was positive natural selection for HbE due to protection against malaria. Lay summary: Our review shows that evidence largely supports an involvement of natural selection in the evolution of HbE and a protective role of HbE against malaria. However, the evidence is not consistent. Further research is necessary before it is concluded.
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PMID:Hemoglobin E, malaria and natural selection. 3189 Feb 10