The World Malaria Day is celebrated on April 25th. The date was created in acknowledgement of the global effort to the effective control of malaria. According to the Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative (DNDi), there are 216 million new cases per year, causing 655,000 deaths per year and 3.3 million people are at risk.
According to the United Nations (UN), malaria mortality rates have decreased more than a quarter globally and more than a third in Africa since 2000. However, those wins are fragile, and can be lost, unless the fight against malaria continues to be a priority at international, regional and national level.
Fiotec and Malaria
Fiotec is currently supporting some projects, from several units of Fiocruz, with focus on Malaria. The project “Malária: Gravidez e alterações no metabolismo e cinética de fármacos (Malaria: Pregnancy and changes in metabolism and kinetics of pharmaceuticals)” is one of them. The proposal tries to explain the way how malaria modulates the metabolism of xenobiotics and the kinetics, effectiveness and toxicity of anti-malaria drugs regarding pregnancy. The research is made by the National Public Health School Sergio Arouca (Ensp/Fiocruz).
The “Estudo dos casos de malária autóctone da Mata Atlântica (Study on the autochthon malaria cases in the Atlantic Rainforest)” tries to characterize the human and simian autochthon malaria in the Atlantic Rainforest region of the state of Rio de Janeiro from the clinical, epidemiologic, parasitological, molecular and entomologic perspective. The project is made by the Oswaldo Cruz Institute (IOC/Fiocruz).
IOC is also responsible for the Laveran & Deane seminars on malaria, gathering Doctor’s and Master’s Degree candidates from several Brazilian laboratories or from Lusophone and South American countries, with researchers from IOC and other entities. They discuss together the project and results of theses ongoing about malaria, and watch magisterial conferences given by senior specialist professionals from different areas of malariology.
The disease
Malaria is an acute fever infectious disease, transmitted by the bite of the female Anopheles mosquito, infected with Plasmodium. The transmission occurs after the bite of the female Anopheles mosquito, infected with Plasmodium protozoarian. In Brazil, three species are related to malaria in human beings:P. vivax, P. falciparum and P. malariae.
The most common symptoms are: chills, high fever (continuous at start, and then at every three days), headaches and muscle pain, tachycardia, increased spleen and, sometimes, deliriums. In case of infection withP. falciparum, there is also a chance out of ten of developing the so-called brain malaria, responsible for about 80% of the fatal cases of the disease.
In addition to the regular symptoms, there may be light rigidity on the neck, sensorial disturbances, confusion, drowsiness or excitement, convulsions, vomits and headaches, and the patient may go into coma.
