MOSQUITOES ... and Malaria ...
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MALARIA - Take precautions on your visit ...
Malaria is both preventable and treatable
Even with oral anti-malarial prophylaxis, it is still possible to get malaria if bitten by an infected anopheles mosquito.
Anti-malarial precautions are essential.
Some Vulnerable Groups
Malaria is both preventable and treatable
Even with oral anti-malarial prophylaxis, it is still possible to get malaria if bitten by an infected anopheles mosquito.
Anti-malarial precautions are essential.
- Visit your doctor well in advance of your intended trip as prophylaxis will need to taken about 6 weeks before you fly to Kenya.
- There are children's prophylaxis and DEET repellents available .
- Cover up and apply repellent - long sleeved shirts and long trousers should be worn in the early morning and in the evenings and wear shoes with socks at night.
- Sleep under mosquito nets.
- Close windows and doors at night - unless they are screened ones
Some Vulnerable Groups
- Children under 5 years old
- Pregnant women
- Those with compromised immune systems
- Epilepsy sufferers
For more information about Malaria, visit:
http://www.againstmalaria.com/faq_malaria.aspx
http://www.unicef.org/health/index_malaria.html
http://www.cdc.gov/malaria/malaria_worldwide/impact.html
For more information about Malaria, visit:
http://www.againstmalaria.com/faq_malaria.aspx
http://www.unicef.org/health/index_malaria.html
http://www.cdc.gov/malaria/malaria_worldwide/impact.html
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The Anopheles Mosquito
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THE MOSQUITO
There are three groups of mosquito that are a nuisance to man.
In the proboscis there are six slender lancets which are modified mouthparts used to pierce the skin and inject the anti-coagulant saliva. Disease organisms are then injected with the saliva.
How a Malaria Carrying Mosquito Works ...
As a female Anopheles mosquito with the parasite drinks her fill, she transmits many threadlike structures, call sporozoites, into the new host.
There are three groups of mosquito that are a nuisance to man.
In the proboscis there are six slender lancets which are modified mouthparts used to pierce the skin and inject the anti-coagulant saliva. Disease organisms are then injected with the saliva.
How a Malaria Carrying Mosquito Works ...
As a female Anopheles mosquito with the parasite drinks her fill, she transmits many threadlike structures, call sporozoites, into the new host.
- These sporozoites travel to the liver, where they multiple and form another kind of spore called a merozoite.
- The merozoites enter the bloodstream and penetrate the red blood cells, where they devour haemoglobin, the chemical that transports oxygen.
- When the blood cell disintegrates, the metozoites - now multiplied 16-fold - escape and infect other blood cells.
- A few merozoites form a sexual stage, which can be sucked up by another mosquito taking a meal.
- Two sexually active merozoites meet in the mosquito's gut and produce a new generation of parasites.
- This mosquito can transmit the infection only if she sucks more blood from an uninfected person before she dies.