A Treat for Mosquitoes

Malaria

Malaria is a dangerous disease. The term malaria is composed of two words, mal and air. The term mal is used for bad. The literal meaning of malaria is bad air. Around a hundred years back, people believed that this disease was caused by obnoxious air from the swamp. So, the disease was named as malaria.

Malaria	Spread by bite of mosquito
Carrier	Female Anopheles mosquito
Symptoms	Fever with shivering
Cure	Quinine tablet
Prevention	Preventing breeding of mosquitoes

There was a British doctor, named Ronald Ross. He was living in India, along with his father. He was the person to discover that malaria is spread by the bite of mosquito. He was able to see that tiny germs in the stomach of mosquito were same as the germs found in the blood of a malaria patient. For this discovery, Ronald Ross was given the Nobel Prize in 1902.

Symptoms: A patient of malaria gets high fever along with shivering. Shivering means that the person feels chill or cold when the fever rises. The patient may die if the disease is not treated on time.

Cause: Malaria is spread by the bite of female Anopheles mosquito. Anopheles is a type of mosquito. This means that other mosquitoes do not spread malaria. When a female Anopheles mosquito bites a malaria patient, germs of malaria enter the body of the mosquito. When the same mosquito bites a healthy person, the germs of malaria enter the body of the healthy person. That is how a healthy person ends up suffering from malaria.

Prevalence of Malaria: Mosquitoes are in abundance in hot and humid climate. So, countries with hot and humid climate have very high prevalence of malaria. Some examples of such countries are India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Vietnam, Malaysia, African countries, etc.

Breeding Ground for Mosquitoes

Mosquitoes lay their eggs in stagnant water. An egg of mosquito grows to become a larva. The plural form of larva is larvae. A larva of mosquito looks like a tiny worm. You can find such larvae in stagnant water. Water collected in a ditch, a flower pot, cooler, old tyre, etc. is an ideal breeding ground for mosquitoes. In due course of time, larva grows to become a mosquito.

Test for Malaria: A blood test needs to be done in order to confirm malaria. For this, a few drops of blood is taken from the tip of the finger. The sample of blood is sent to pathological laboratory. The pathologist looks for germs of malaria in blood sample.

Cure for Malaria: In olden days, bark of cinchona was boiled. After that, the water was filtered to be used as a cure for malaria. It is not easy to drink the bitter concoction made from cinchona. Now-a-days, tablets are available. It is more palatable than the bitter concoction.

Prevention of Malaria

	Use mosquito net on bed
	Use mosquito repellant
	Maintain cleanliness

The best way to prevent malaria is to prevent a mosquito from biting you. We can take following steps to prevent malaria.

Use mosquito repellant cream.
Use mosquito net, while sleeping.
Clear stagnant water from your surroundings. For this, keep the cooler dry during rainy season. Keep empty cartons and pots upside down so that water does not collect in them. Fill potholes and ditches with sand or soil. Keep the flower pots free of stagnant water.
Some fish feed on larvae of mosquitoes. Keeping such fishes in ponds can help in preventing breeding of mosquitoes.

Other Diseases Spread by Mosquito: Apart from malaria, mosquitoes spread many other diseases. They are dengue, filaria and chikangunya.

Anemia

Anemia	Lack of hemoglobin in blood
Symptom	Pale skin, weakness
Cause	Deficiency of iron
Cure	Iron tablets, green leafy vegetables

In common language, deficiency of blood in the body is called anemia. In more scientific term, deficiency of hemoglobin is called anemia. The red colour of blood is because of hemoglobin. Hemoglobin is responsible for carrying oxygen in the body.

Cause of Anemia: Deficiency of iron causes anemia. Hemoglobin is made up of iron. Less iron in the body means less number of hemoglobin is made.

Symptoms of Anemia: A person suffering from anemia has pale skin. A patient of anemia becomes weak and easily gets tired.

Effects of Anemia: Many school going children suffer from anemia. Girls are at greater risk of suffering from anemia. Anemia can result in stunted physical growth of the child. It can also badly affect the mental development of a child.

Test for Anemia: This disease is confirmed by blood test. For this, blood sample is collected from a vein near the elbow or wrist. Pathologist checks for low level of hemoglobin in the sample. For healthy person the level of hemoglobin is in the range of 12 to 16 gram per deciliter of blood. If the level is less than 10, this is a dangerous situation.

Cure for Anemia: The patient of anemia needs to increase iron in the diet. Iron capsules or tablets are given for this. Such tablets do not contain iron in the form which is used for making nails or iron gates. So, you don’t need to swallow iron pellets to cure anemia. Iron tablets contain iron in minuscule amount and in a form which is safe for the body. One also needs to eat lot of green leafy vegetables. Spinach, cabbage, lettuce, beet, etc. are good source of iron.