Although at present its incidence has decreased
Malaria is an infectious disease that has complained to the population since the last century, and although at present, its incidence has decreased, in Mexico new cases are still registered, being Chiapas, Oaxaca, Nayarit, Durango, Sinaloa, and Sonora, the most affected states.
The most recent statistics from the World Health Organization (WHO), from 2019, a record that 229 million people suffer from it worldwide, so it is still part of a public health problem.
Malaria, as it is also called, is known as a condition triggered by the bite of a female “Anopheles” mosquito, which in addition to being preventable, is curable. However, its late treatment has caused the death of thousands of people in the world. Especially in African regions, where the most critical situation of the disease is experienced since they represent 94% of infected.
The WHO estimates that malaria has caused the death of 409 thousand people. The agency highlighted that children under five years of age represented the most vulnerable group affected, constituting 67% of those affected, equivalent to 274 thousand deaths from this disease.
Lorena González López, from the Faculty of Medicine (FM) of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), who has studied malaria closely, stated that one of the main causes of the appearance of new cases is migration since it is transmitted through the mobility of the inhabitants.
The expert, from the Department of Microbiology and Parasitology of the FM, has studied the way in which the mosquito “Plasmodium berghei” acts, a protozoan parasite that causes malaria in some rodents, to understand the mechanisms by which it leads to complete its life cycle.
For the researcher, this disease implies a public health problem of a social nature. This is because, in regions where malaria is highly endemic, since it affects a specific locality, people are often infected, developing acquired immunity.
Source: elsiglodetorreon.com.mx
