For more information: Newsletter
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TAM TAM: Together Against Mosquitoes |
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The malaria disease is debilitating, affecting millions of people each year and fatal to many in Africa. The cumulative human suffering and economic damage caused by malaria is immense. Children and pregnant women are most at risk. |
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A malaria vector: the female Anopheles mosquito
Malaria, a blood parasite, is transmitted when a female Anopheles mosquito bites a person. Symptoms of the disease vary considerably in severity and include fever, headaches, aching joints, loss of appetite and sometimes diarrhea, nausea and vomiting. Even relatively mild infections are physically debilitating to the victim, but can be readily treated with sulfa pyrimethamine (SP) drugs. Delay in treatment can lead to much more severe illness, including convulsions, breathing difficulties, unconsciousness and anemia. In these serious cases, unless the victim receives immediate hospital treatment, death can be rapid. Malaria represents a massive barrier to socio-economic development and poverty alleviation in developing countries.
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