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0:00
My name
is Doctor Peter Billingsley.
I'm a Senior Director of
Quality Systems and Entomology
at a company called Sanaria
in Rockville, Maryland.
I'm going to talk to you
about Malaria in the mosquito.
0:15
Malaria is one of the
world's foremost killers.
Every year approximately
one million children
die of the disease, about
250 million people become ill
with malaria, and
at least $12 billion
are lost annually in
economic activity in terms
of gross domestic product due
just to malaria in Africa alone.
In addition, many thousands
of international travelers
fall ill to Malaria every year.
0:43
Of
The several malaria
parasites that infect humans,
Plasmodium falciparum
is responsible for more
deaths than any of the others.
Indeed, it is responsible for more
deaths in children in the world
than any other single
infectious agent.
Today alone, as you're listening
to this seminar, about 3
to 5 thousand children will die
of Malaria, about 1 to 3 million
in the coming in year.
1:08
This map shows the distribution
of Malaria across the world.
Malaria is found in areas where
conditions allow the parasite
to multiply within the vector,
where the temperature and humidity
conditions are suitable for
the persistence of mosquito
populations.
This means that the
parasite is restricted
to tropical and subtropical areas
at altitudes below 1500 meters.
Its distribution can, therefore,
be affected by climate changes,
especially global warming and
large population movements.
Plasmodium falciparum, which is the
major killing species of Malaria,
and Plasmodium malariae are
accounted in all these shaded areas
that you see here.
Plasmodium vivax
and Plasmodium ovale
are also common across
Sub-Saharan Africa.
Plasmodium ovale and many other
areas for Plasmodium vivax.
And more recently, a parasite
called Plasmodium knowlesi has begun
to emerge as a
zoonotic disease, that
is, a disease coming
animals in Malaysia.
