Malaria Infection And Treatment

<div><p dir="ltr"><b>Overview, Complications and Treatment Of Malaria Infection. </b></p><p dir="ltr"><b>Introduction</b></p><p dir="ltr">As we all know, malaria is an epidemic disease which is responsible for most death of individuals in Africa and Nigeria.</p><p dir="ltr">Plasmodium is a parasite of class <b>Sporozoans</b> or  <b>Apicomplexas</b> because of their complex lifecycle. <br>For the full development of the parasite, two hosts are involved namely;<br>1) <b>Intermediate Host</b> been man in which the Asexual stage of its cycle occur<br>2) <b>Definitive Host</b> been the mosquito where the sexual stage occurs. </p><p dir="ltr"><b>Types Of Plasmodium Species</b>.<br>There are <b>five</b> species of these plasmodium which are responsible for bring about malaria. These species is as viz;<br>1) Plasmodium Falciparum<br>2) Plasmodium Vivax<br>3) Plasmodium Ovale<br>4) Plasmodium Malariae<br>5) Plasmodium Knowlesi... </p><p dir="ltr">Emphasis will be laid much on P. Falciparum and P. Vivax as the are the species of Plasmodium that cause the most deadly infection</p><p dir="ltr"><b>Pathogenesis Of Malaria Infection</b>.</p><p dir="ltr">Malaria infections occurs as a result of parasitemia when female mosquito called Anopheles infected with the plasmodium parasite transmit its saliva into the blood stream.</p><p dir="ltr"><b>Life Cycle Of Malaria Parasite. </b></p><p dir="ltr">The Lifecycle of most Sporozoan as mentioned above is very complex. It may involve one or more hosts. </p><p dir="ltr">Basically, the Lifecycle of malarial infection can be divided into;<br>1) <b>Sexual Lifecycle</b> is the stage of gamete formation (gametogony)<br>2) <b>Asexual Lifecycle</b>; the developmental formation of schizonts (schizogony). </p><p dir="ltr">The <b>asexual lifecycle</b> consist of <b>three</b> subgroup which include;<br>1) Pre-erythrocytic stage <br>2) Erythrocytic stage <br>3) Exo-erythrocytic stage. </p><p dir="ltr">The <b>Pre-erythrocytic stage</b> is the stage that when the mosquito comes for blood meal and transmit the parasite into the blood. <br>On entrance into the body, the parasite moves within milliseconds to milli hours to the LIVER CELLS(hepatocytes). </p><p dir="ltr">In the hepatocytes, the proliferate into <b>trophozoites</b> and mature to <b>schizonts</b>. This schizonts quickly burst and release about 30,000 <b>merozoites</b> which wanders into the red cells to continue the Erythrocytic stage of asexual cycle.</p><p dir="ltr">The <b>Erythrocytic stage</b> sets in. <br>The ruptured merozoites parasitize the RBCs. Falciparum been the most deadly parasitize both new, old and matured red cells while other species are red cell specific. </p><p dir="ltr">ThESE <b>merozoites</b> in RED CELLs undergo another series of development from schizonts to merozoites until they invade all the red cells of the system... </p><p dir="ltr">When eventually all red cells have been invaded, profuse sweating is experienced along with <b>CHILLS</b> due to rapid bursting to the schizonts to merozoites. Some of the schizonts hibernates to form <b>Hypnozoites</b> which could later transform to take down host.</p><p dir="ltr">The <b>Exo-erythrocytic stage</b> is the stage when the Hypnozoites develop back start the <b>ERYTHROCYTIC</b><b> STAGE</b></p><p dir="ltr"><b>Laboratory Diagnosis Of MP</b>.<br>The lab diagnosis of malaria is based on using blood as sample to prepare smears to identify the presence of <b>Chromatin Dot</b> called <b>Schnuffer's Dot</b> for most Falciparum strains. </p><p dir="ltr">Two smears used in diagnosis are as follows;<br>1) Thin Smear to detect the exact parasite species<br>2) Thick smear for number of parasitemia (severity of invasion) </p><p dir="ltr"><b>Staining Techniques For MP TEST</b><br>The most prepare staining technique for detection of MP is <b>FIELD STAINING METHOD</b>.<br>Other staining technique include;<br>* <b>Giemsa Method</b> <br>* Romanowsky Staining Techniques (eg leishman stain) </p><p dir="ltr"><b>Giemsa is used in most used tropic regions and even Nigeria.</b></p><p dir="ltr">Finally, as a medical laboratory <u>personnel</u>, its would interest you to knw that you could be the doctor of yourself in treating MALARIA. </p><p dir="ltr"><b>Chemotherapeutic Drugs For MP</b></p><p dir="ltr"><b>Monotherapy is not adviceable</b> as most starins of parasites have developed resistance to these drugs. <br>Secondly, most Falciparum malaria are resistant to virtually all malarial drugs. </p><p dir="ltr">Here are the list of combination therapy to malaria<br>1) Artemether + Lumefanthrine (also called coartem, or trade names include Amatem) is the best. <br>2) Sulphonamides + pyrimethamine (also called Fansidar) used only as chemoprophylaxis. Not effective against Falciparum strains. <br>3) Artesunate + Amodiaquine (for chemoprophylaxis) <br>4) Chloroquine (best for pregnant women but has now developed resistance) <br>5) Proguanil<br>6) Mefloquine<br>7) Primaquine <br>8) Quinine<br>9) Halofanthrine</p><p dir="ltr">Please and please, dont no administer Primaquine to pregnant mothers as the fetus is 100% likely to come down with Glucose 6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency. </p><p dir="ltr">Also, avoid unnecessary consumption/ingestion of the listed drugs above so as to prevent  Resistance. </p><p dir="ltr">Also, malarial drugs have toxic side effects which range from nausea to vomitting, deafness, G6PD DEFICIENCY, Pruritus etc. </p><p dir="ltr">If symptoms persist after three(3) days of taking COARTEM, consult the doctor 😷...</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7YxtuTNGoQHTWCLskjMZiIytUB_qE0Mo_KQxp6ouzvvJy4RiSNbqdK_58JkzVZJe5CYxUpFGHUt_91JMpA5cgisRtex3MxyMSq18qycNh1eBlMgAaFQsWAkVf8E_sBWFE1NuLI-ljL9a5/s1600/20160925102537.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"> <img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7YxtuTNGoQHTWCLskjMZiIytUB_qE0Mo_KQxp6ouzvvJy4RiSNbqdK_58JkzVZJe5CYxUpFGHUt_91JMpA5cgisRtex3MxyMSq18qycNh1eBlMgAaFQsWAkVf8E_sBWFE1NuLI-ljL9a5/s640/20160925102537.jpg"> </a> </div></div>