26 April 2021 is the 14th National Malaria Day. Since 2017, China has reported no local primary malaria cases for 4 consecutive years, meeting the WHO national malaria elimination standards, and is applying to the World Health Organization for national malaria elimination certification. At present, the high incidence of malaria is in Africa and South-East Asia, where falciparum malaria is predominantly endemic and Vivax malaria is predominantly endemic in South-East Asia.
The theme of National Malaria Day 2021 is "Preventing Import Retransmission and Consolidating Malaria Elimination Gains".
1. What is malaria?
Malaria, commonly known as "pendulum" and "malaria", is a parasitic disease that seriously endangers human health. According to the parasitic body of the malaria parasite can be divided into falciparum malaria, vivax malaria, three-day malaria and ovate malaria.
2. What are the symptoms of malaria?
Typical malaria symptoms are chills, fever (up to >39°C), sweating, and signs of anemia and hepatosplenomegaly. However, there are also some malaria patients with symptoms that are atypical, including neurological symptoms such as fever and coma, fever with abdominal pain, gastrointestinal symptoms such as diarrhea, fever with tiredness, headache and general aches and other similar influenza symptoms.
3. Who is susceptible to malaria?
In addition to certain genetic factors that make the population less susceptible to malaria parasites, people who generally enter malaria-endemic areas are susceptible to malaria infection.
4. How is malaria transmitted?
Malaria is mainly transmitted through mosquito bites and can also be transmitted through blood transfusions.
5. How to prevent malaria?
The best way to prevent malaria is to prevent mosquito bites, try to avoid activities in the wild during peak mosquito activities (dusk and night), if you must work or activity outdoors, wear long-sleeved clothes and trousers, and apply repellents (containing DEET) on the bare skin. Insecticides or mosquito coils can be sprayed in the bedroom before going to bed; mosquito nets or long-lasting mosquito nets can be used when sleeping; sand doors and screens can be installed in the house.
6. How to treat malaria?
Patients with vivax malaria are generally treated with chloroquine phosphate + primaquine phosphate, and primary quinoquine should also be taken for anti-relapse therapy in the spring of the following year. Patients with falciparum malaria can be treated with oral artemisinin-based combinations, while patients with severe malaria who have complications should be treated with artesunate or artemether injections for antimalarial therapy.
Source: Beijing Municipal Center for Disease Control and Prevention
Source: Healthy Beijing