Malaria: What Is It And What Can Be Done - Essay Example

Malaria: What is it and what can be done? Professor (Tutor) The Name of the School (University) The City and State Date Malaria: What is it and what can be done? Introduction Malaria is a vector-borne disease caused by the Plasmodium parasites. It is transmitted to humans through mosquito bites. The main malaria-causing parasite is the Plasmodium falciparum, but Plasmodium vivax can also cause malaria. Although malaria is preventable and treatable, it is a fatal disease and contributes to increased mortality rates among young children. Malaria causes about 3 million deaths annually, meaning it is one of the leading fatal diseases among other diseases such as AIDS (Hofman et al 2015). Numerous issues make it impossible to effectively prevent or treat malaria. The following essay will determine the best ways to prevent and treat malaria. Accurate and effective detection of malaria parasites or accurate malaria diagnosis can help in improving preventive, treatment, and control efforts. According to Hofman et al, (2015) planning and assessing malaria control approaches depend on accurate description of parasite occurrence in the population. Using the right diagnosis methods and criteria can help in preventing, controlling, and treating malaria. Most parasite infections are diagnosed or identified through observation with molecular techniques. Use if methods such as molecular detection using PCR are restricted by the profusion of target sequence in the DNA sample. In turn, such detections can become ineffective during low densities. According to Hofman et al, (2015) measured malaria occurrence in populations is mainly defined by the sensitivity of the analysis tool applied. The study suggests use of higher sensitive diagnosis tools such as varATS qPCR and TARE-2 to observe communities and interventions to effectively define epidemiology and update malaria prevention and elimination efforts. Again, diagnosing malaria occurrence in terms of defining fever and parasite density based on age and location can help in improving clinical trials aimed at developing preventive strategies for malaria (Mabunda et al2009). This means that fever and parasite density definition can help in the fight against malaria. Additionally, research has illustrated that the relationship between Plasmodium falciparum and fever among children highly depends on the season (Dicko et al 2005). This means that for health workers to effectively diagnose malaria cases and their specificity, they should consider the season. Different areas and seasons call for different methods of prevention, control, and treatment. The rainy season is attributed to have an increased relationship between malaria parasites and fever than in the dry season (Dicko et al 2005). This means that malaria diagnosis methods should be used based on specific seasons as well as preventive and elimination efforts designed to consider seasonal changes. Moreover, environmental and intervention predictors have been illustrated to improve value and accuracy in the practice of preventing and treating malaria (Zinszer et al 2015). Diagnosis or intervention strategies should consider the aspect of clinical and environmental predictors to ensure accurate prevention efforts and strategies. Malaria can be prevented and effectively controlled if its occurrence is defined or identified under the right factors including proper diagnosis tools, seasons and environmental predictors. Improved training and education on malaria diagnosis and operational research among practitioners can help prevent and control malaria. Research has illustrated that healthcare professional who are tasked with malaria control programs may lack the necessary knowledge on the disease. In India, the number of healthcare professional with knowledge of adverse drug reaction reporting requirements was relatively low (Gupta et al 2014). Lack of knowledge contributed to increased challenges in pharmacovigilance resulting in wrong prescription of malaria control drugs (Gupta et al 2014). Healthcare professionals should be supported with targeted and in-service education combined with hands-on training on adverse drug reaction checking and reporting. In turn, this is expected to increase the effectiveness of malaria control efforts. In Nigeria, research illustrated that about 109 children with malaria in one state received the wrong dose while 41 received inappropriate treatment, and only 300 were appropriately given the Artemisinin Combination Therapy (ACT) in 2012 (Udoh et al 2013). This illustrates a reduced level of knowledge as well as training in terms of controlling malaria among healthcare professionals. The use of ACT’s is a recommended approach to treating uncomplicated cases of malaria in children. However, the level of healthcare competency in terms of diagnosis and drug administration for malaria treatment is questionable. This means that healthcare professionals should be trained and educated on malaria treatment approaches to avoid increased misdiagnosis, unsuitable treatment, and wrong drug administration. Another research focused on operational research in malarial control programs in literature (Shui-sen et al 2014). The research concluded that current and previous research has not focused on operational research. This means that there are no worldwide standards or principles that malaria control programs can utilize in terms of operational research. The main challenge is healthcare professionals involved in national malaria control programs that lack the knowledge on conducting and reporting their findings on operational research (Shui-sen et al 2014). In this case, additional research as well as knowledge in operational research and reporting is needed to enable healthcare professional involved in malaria control programs. Another study found that antenatal health professional lack the knowledge on identifying between the use of preventive and treatment drugs in women during pregnancy (Odongo et al 2015). The use of wrong drugs during pregnancy may result in increased risks for pregnancies as well as malaria among newborns. Overall, there exists a huge gap in terms of knowledge among healthcare professionals involved in malaria control programs. The increased lack of knowledge and training has decreased the effectiveness of malaria control programs. Therefore increased knowledge and training on malaria-related diagnosis, research, and treatment will help in controlling malaria cases around the world. Drug development can help in controlling malaria. The use of drugs with amino-alkylated analogues and chalcones illustrated anti-malarial effects on both chloroquine-resistant and chloroquine-sensitive Plasmodium falciparum strains (Abay et al 2015). The use of NP046 as the lead compound reserved parasite development for the malaria causing parasites. Although, the bioavailability of NP046 was relatively low, its capability to inhibit parasite growth is promising (Abay et al 2015). Increased research to enhance the compound’s bioavailability is needed to ensure improved drugs that can help prevent malaria spread or control malaria effectively. Developing drugs with the ability to prevent further development of malaria-causing parasites can be effective in both preventing and treating malaria. This can help in developing vaccines that can ensure the immune system is equipped to prevent the growth of parasites once they access the body. Moreover, it can also help in drug development for treating patients who already have malaria by preventing further growth of the parasites. Research has also illustrated that moonlight activities of Plasmodium falciparum glycolytic enzymes as well as the exclusive functional features and structural differences could be exploited to aid in transmission and therapeutic interventions for malaria (Alam et al 2014). Metabolic enzymes can functional differently from their normal tasks, thus the use of moonlighting tasks. The enzyme glycolysis is the main energy source for the malaria-causing parasite, which means it can be manipulated in terms of drug development or therapeutic interventions. Research has already illustrated the structural differences in these enzymes, which means they can be targeted in terms of drug administration (Alam et al 2014). Moreover, these enzymes are also responsible for numerous parasite-precise functions. In this case, the pharmaceutical industry can develop a drug that has the ability to inhibit such functions, thus resulting in increased effectiveness in preventing and treating malaria. Research has illustrated that numerous compounds have the ability to obstruct growth of parasites causing malaria. The need for increased drug development is in line with the efforts for presenting and controlling malaria. Moreover, further research is needed to determine weak points in malaria-causing parasites for therapeutic and transmission interventions. New approaches are needed to ensure that drugs used in preventing and controlling malaria are effective and reliable. Conclusion Malaria continues to be a leading fatal disease in the 21st century despite it being preventable and treatable. The increased lack of consistency in research, practice, and drug development has led to increased cases of malaria deaths. Although malaria is a leading cause of death, its epidemiology is dependent on regions across the world. Different regions or nations around the world have higher malaria occurrences than other regions, which has resulted in gaps in terms of practice, research, and overall malaria intervention strategies. The gaps in practice and research can be mitigated by adopting more sensitive and specific methods for diagnosis. Additionally, healthcare professionals should also receive increased knowledge and training on proper diagnosis and treatment of malaria. Lastly, increased research is needed in terms of drug development to enable effective prevention and treatment of malaria. References Abay, ET, van der Westuizen, JH, Swart, KJ, Gibhard, L, Lawrence, N, Dambuza, N, Wilhelm, A, Pravin, K, & Wiesner, L 2015, 'Efficacy and pharmacokinetic evaluation of a novel anti-malarial compound (NP046) in a mouse model', Malaria Journal, vol. 14, no. 1, pp. 1-7. Alam, A, Neyaz, MK, & Ikramul Hasan, S 2014, 'Exploiting unique structural and functional properties of malarial glycolytic enzymes for antimalarial drug development', Malaria Research And Treatment, vol. 2014, p. 451065. Dicko, A, Mantel, C, Kouriba, B, Issaka, S, Thera, MA, Doumbia, S, Diallo, M, Poudiougou, B, Diakite, M, & Doumbo, OK 2005, 'Season, fever prevalence and pyrogenic threshold for malaria disease definition in an endemic area of Mali', Tropical Medicine & International Health, vol. 10, no. 6, pp. 550-556. Gupta, P, Anvikar, AR, Valecha, N, & Gupta, YK 2014, 'Pharmacovigilance practices for better healthcare delivery: knowledge and attitude study in the national malaria control programme of India', Malaria Research And Treatment, vol. 2014, p. 837427.  Hofmann, N, Mwingira, F, Shekalaghe, S, Robinson, LJ, Mueller, I, & Felger, I 2015, 'Ultra-Sensitive Detection of Plasmodium falciparum by Amplification of Multi-Copy Subtelomeric Targets', PLoS Medicine, vol. 12, no. 3, pp. 1-21.  Mabunda, S, Aponte, JJ, Tiago, A, & Alonso, P 2009, 'A country-wide malaria survey in Mozambique. II. Malaria attributable proportion of fever and establishment of malaria case definition in children across different epidemiological settings', Malaria Journal, vol. 8, pp. 1-7.  Odongo, CO, Bisaso, KR, Kitutu, F, Obua, C, & Byamugisha, J 2015, 'Is there a distinction between malaria treatment and intermittent preventive treatment? Insights from a cross-sectional study of anti-malarial drug use among Ugandan pregnant women', Malaria Journal, vol. 14, no. 1, pp. 1-8.  Shui-sen, Z, Rietveld, AC, Velarde-Rodriguez, M, Ramsay, AR, Shao-sen, Z, Xiao-nong, Z, & Cibulskis, RE 2014, 'Operational research on malaria control and elimination: a review of projects published between 2008 and 2013', Malaria Journal, vol. 13, no. 1, pp. 1-17. Udoh, E, Oyo-ita, A, Odey, F, Effa, E, Esu, E, Oduwole, O, Chibuzor, M, & Meremikwu, M 2013, 'Management of uncomplicated malaria in underfives in private and public health facilities in South-Eastern Nigeria: a clinical audit of current practices', Malaria Research and Treatment. Zinszer, K, Kigozi, R, Charland, K, Dorsey, G, Brewer, TF, Brownstein, JS, Kamya, MR, & Buckeridge, DL 2015, 'Forecasting malaria in a highly endemic country using environmental and clinical predictors', Malaria Journal, vol. 14, no. 1, pp. 1-9. Read More