Abstract
Introduction
Malaria, along with HIV and Tuberculosis, is one of the three most common
infectious diseases in the world. It has infected human beings for over 50,000
years and may have been a human pathogen throughout the entire history of our
species. An estimated 300 million people suffer from this disease and more
than one million die each year. Eighty percent of cases are located in
Sub-Saharan Africa affecting mainly young children and pregnant women (WHO,
2008). Malaria is a major public health issue commonly associated with
poverty, but it is also a cause of poverty and a major hindrance to economic
development. Malaria related-illnesses and mortality cost Africa' s economy
alone an estimated $12 billion USD per year (Roll Back Malaria).
The cause of malaria was discovered in 1880 by Charles Louis Alphonse Laveran
who identified parasites in the red blood cells of people with the disease and
suggested that malaria was caused by this protozoan. Malaria is caused by
Plasmodium parasites and is transmitted by the female Anopheles mosquito. The
most severe form (cerebral malaria) is due to Plasmodium falciparum, the most
frequent strain in Africa.
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