ABSTRACT
Malaria is endemic in almost all parts of the tropical world as far north as southern Turkey, as far south as north-eastern South Africa, as far west as Mexico and as far east as Vanuatu in the western Pacific (see Figure 19.2). The females of certain species of mosquito (genus Anopheles), which nearly always bite between dusk and dawn, transmit malaria (Figure 19.1). Four different species of malarial parasites commonly infect humans: life-threatening Plasmodium falciparum and the three so-called benign malarias, P. vivax, P. ovale and P. malariae. P. falciparum malaria kills 1 to 2 million people each year and is particularly dangerous to those who have not acquired immunity to it by growing up in a malarious part of the world. About 2,000 cases of imported malaria are reported in the UK each year, but over the last few years the proportion of dangerous P. falciparum cases has increased to over 60%. Each year, a few people die of imported malaria in the UK and an unknown number die abroad. Most of these deaths could have been prevented by better education of the travellers, use of approved methods of prevention and prompt medical attention when a person falls ill. An anopheles mosquito https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9781315063621/3d535cd9-a6ad-4748-a69a-eef01cc4a032/content/fig19_1_B.tif" xmlns:xlink="https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"/> Malaria is endemic in almost all parts of the tropical world as far north as southern Turkey, as far south as north-eastern South Africa, as far west as Mexico and as far east as Vanuatu in the western Pacific https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9781315063621/3d535cd9-a6ad-4748-a69a-eef01cc4a032/content/fig19_2_C.jpg" xmlns:xlink="https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"/>
