# data[].attributes.body
I chose malaria as my disease of study because of the incredible extent of the disease's impact on human biology, history, culture, and environment. From the development of sickle cell anemia within the human genome, to ancient Greek, Roman, Indian, Chinese, Mesopotamian, and Egyptian written records, to the popularity of drinks like tonic water, to the development of organizations like the CDC, malaria and the human struggle against the disease have shaped society as we know it today. Though I expected the impact of malaria on human society and culture throughout the centuries to be quite high, I was surprised by the sheer scope of that impact, both in regard to how long the disease has existed and how it shaped everything from the rise and fall of empires to the clothing people wore and  food and drink they consumed. Though it is one of the most basic aspects of the disease, one of the most interesting things about malaria from the evolutionary sense is the number of plasmodium parasites that exist, the number of ways the parasite lifecycle can proceed, and the number of methods of transmission that can result in human infection. If there was one thing I could add to the padlet assignment, it would be a section or subsection focusing on how the infectious disease of study interacts with others; for instance, rates of malarial transmission and mortality increased during the COVID-19 pandemic due in part to concurrent health care, governmental, and economic burdens.

Post 8: 8/8/23

# data[].attributes.body
A worldwide public health issue that has persisted throughout the centuries, malaria carries a broader societal impact than its harm to hosts alone. Aside from diminished health or even death, implications of malaria include burden to governments, economies, and infrastructure, changes in social behavior and familial connections due to illness and death, and even changes to cultural norms in regions where malaria is highly prevalent. For example, in areas of the world where malaria and other mosquito borne diseases are most commonly found (such as Africa, South Asia, and South America), the use of insecticide treated bed netting and indoor sleeping arrangements as a preventative measure are common and incorporated into the lifestyle of individuals. In an interesting example of cultural/culinary developments reflecting the spread of infectious diseases, the drink Gin and Tonic was developed as a more palatable version of the antimalarial drug quinine, in which gin was mixed with tonic water, which included doses of quinine. Finally, the economic burden of malaria can not be ignored, nor can the impact of poverty on malarial transmission in the first place. Though climate and ecology play the most significant role in infection and transmission, malaria is a disease that primarily effects poor, developing, and postcolonial countries, making adherence to personal preventative measures (bed netting, indoor sleeping arrangements, etc), adequate diagnosis and healthcare, and data collection for research purposes much more difficult. The economic burden of medical costs, lost income, and reduced national economic output (and thus reductions in governmental ability to combat malaria) in populations experiencing increased rates of infection feeds into a cycle poverty, infection, and limited resources to combat it.

Sources:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2588631/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9779137/#:~:text=It%20is%20known%20that%20sleeping,minimal%20protection%20from%20malaria%20transmission.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9714995/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK2624/#:~:text=Not%20only%20are%20malarial%20countries,%25%2C%20%3E%205%20times%20higher.
https://www.prb.org/resources/malaria-basics-global-impact-and-actions/#:~:text=Malaria%20takes%20its%20toll%20not,billion%2C%20according%20to%20the%20WHO.

Post 7: 8/8/23

# data[].attributes.body
Combatting the spread and harm done by malaria is not a responsibility relegated solely to the health care community; the fight against this disease has been undertaken by national governments, non governmental organizations, and international organizations. For instance, in the US in the 1940s, elimination of malaria was a priority for the United States government. The Office of Malaria Control in War Areas, predecessor to the Center for Disease Control, was established in 1942 to combat malaria and other vector borne illnesses around military bases within the US, particularly in the South, and following the end of World War II, the initiative to prevent malaria was extended to include the public as well. In July of 1947, a coalition consisting of the CDC and a number of local and state governments from the southeastern US began the National Malaria Eradication Program, which sprayed the interior surfaces of more than 4,650,000 rural homes with DDT, and insecticide to target the mosquitoes carrying malaria. The venture was successful, and by the early 1950s, the US was declared malaria free (the US still sees thousands of malaria cases yearly, however they are typically acquired by travelers abroad). Organizations like the World Health Organization have recommendations in place for travelers to countries where malaria is present and for national governments, which include measures like malaria pills, vaccinations, insecticide netting for beds and windows, and targeted approaches to killing malaria parasites/vectors in other animal species. Additionally, genetically modified Anopheles mosquitoes unable to reproduce and genetically resistant to the plasmodium parasite have begun to be developed using CRISPR/cas9 genome editing techniques. Rates of malaria transmission and mortality have decreased significantly throughout the decades, however cases rose during 2020 and 2021 due to oversight and shifting priorities during the COVID-19 pandemic, changes in vector transmission patterns due to climate change and weather patters, and other factors.

Sources:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4824197/
https://www.cdc.gov/malaria/about/history/elimination_us.html#:~:text=By%20the%20end%20of%201949,of%20transmission%20was%20slowly%20achieved.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5879044/
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/27/health/us-malaria-mosquitoes.html
https://www.who.int/news/item/08-12-2022-despite-continued-impact-of-covid-19--malaria-cases-and-deaths-remained-stable-in-2021

Post 6: 8/6/23

# data[].attributes.body
Malaria is an ancient disease and medical treatment throughout the centuries has had varying levels of success. It was widespread throughout the ancient world and malarial fever was associated with swamps, marshlands, dirty water, and "miasmas" or "bad" vapors (hence the name "malaria") in ancient Greece and Rome. The first major, successful treatment for malaria came in the form of quinine, a medicine produced from the bark of the South American cinchona tree and introduced to Europe in the 17th century. In the 1820s, French chemists isolated and extracted quinine from the bark, which revolutionized the method of treatment/ingestion. Quinine remained the most common antimalarial drug through the 1920s, however other drugs such as chloroquine, a synthetic, have surpassed quinine in modern use. Other antimalarial drugs include sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine, mefloquine, and artemisinin, which, like quinine and chloroquine, face various levels of parasite resistance, effectivity, and regulation by law. Malaria has been the source of numerous public health crises, and as such, the health care community was aided in its effort to combat the disease by numerous governmental and international organizations. This is most clearly seen through targeted insecticide spraying programs in high risk areas (such as DDT). The WHO, United States government, Indian government, Australian government, and more all supported programs that focused on destroying the mosquito vector of the disease in addition to later treatment of patients.

Sources:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK215638/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3121651/
https://www.britannica.com/science/malaria/Malaria-through-history

Post 5: 8/6/23

# data[].attributes.body
Virulence is a relative term describing the severity of a disease and refers to the harm done to a host by an infectious pathogen during the period of infection. Virulence can be measured through specific signs and symptoms (such as a fever, cough, or sores) or a reduction in the host's fitness. Malaria is a highly virulent disease, wherein hosts experience various levels harm during infection by plasmodium parasites (of which there are multiple varieties); the severity of malarial infections can range from asymptomatic to fatal. Different malaria parasites exhibit different levels of virulence, from high to mild, and Plasmodium falciparum is the strain of malaria parasite most likely to cause severe infections and death in humans. Virulence and the success of transmission of malaria is closely connected with the life cycle of the parasites and the asexual and sexual reproduction, development, and interaction with host cells that they exhibit. Plasmodium parasites have the ability to prolong infection and evade host immunity via the expression of surface protein antigens (which is also very important in the process of sexual reproduction of parasites, which in turn is key to the transmission process), and it is suspected that malarial virulence has evolved and increased over time due to an association between increased virulence and higher transmission rates.

Sources:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1693375/pdf/15306410.pdf
https://www.cdc.gov/malaria/about/faqs.html#:~:text=knowlesi%2C%20a%20type%20of%20malaria,treated%2C%20may%20lead%20to%20death.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC16372/#:~:text=Virulence%20of%20Plasmodium%20falciparum%20is,a%20family%20of%20var%20genes.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9815252/

Post 4: 7/29/23

# data[].attributes.body
Though malaria first emerged in tropical Africa 2.5-30 million years ago, it is a disease that has reached nearly all corners of the globe throughout human history, and is considered by some to be the most influential infectious disease in human history. According to the 2021 World Malaria Report, nearly half of the world's population is at risk of contracting malaria, and in 2020, there were an estimated 241 million cases of malaria and 627,000 deaths from it, with 95% of deaths coming from sub-Saharan Africa. In the present day, malaria is most commonly found in developing tropical, and subtropical countries, with the highest rates of disease transmission found in sub-Saharan Africa, and to a lesser extent, South Asia and South America. Young children who have not yet developed partial immunity, pregnant women with depressed immune systems, and travelers and migrants with little previous exposure/immunity to malaria are at the highest risk for contracting malaria. The map above shows the historical global distribution of malaria using data from 2004. Due to the age of malaria as an infectious disease, it is difficult to map its exact spread over time. The enlarged spleens of some Egyptian mummies indicate the presence of malaria in ancient Egypt, and in 2010, scientists discovered traces of plasmodium parasites in the remains of King Tutankhamen's (14th century BCE) blood. Malaria was also present in ancient Greece, described as an "autumnal fever" by Hippocrates and others, and was rampant in the Roman Empire. Since the origin of the disease in tropical Africa, malaria has spread to Asia, Europe, Oceania, and the Americas, though areas of transmission in the present day are much more limited. In the 20th century, malaria was responsible for 150-300 million deaths (2-5% of all deaths), and though malaria deaths have drastically decreased in the 21st century, hundreds of thousands of people (mostly children under age 5 in Africa) die of the disease each year.

Sources:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0020751916301229
https://www.cdc.gov/malaria/malaria_worldwide/impact.html#:~:text=According%20to%20the%202021%20World,in%20the%20WHO%20African%20Region.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC126857/#:~:text=Malaria%20is%20among%20the%20oldest,of%20any%20other%20infectious%20agent.
https://www.ucsf.edu/news/2011/08/103884/progress-fighting-malaria-timeline
https://www.britannica.com/science/malaria/Malaria-through-history
https://www.nature.com/articles/news021001-6
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK215638/#:~:text=In%20the%2020th%20century%20alone,Carter%20and%20Mendis%2C%202002).
https://www.who.int/data/gho/data/themes/malaria#:~:text=Globally%2C%20malaria%20deaths%20reduced%20steadily,by%2012%25%20compared%20with%202019.
https://www.vivaxmalaria.org/diagnosis-treatment/g6pd-deficiency#:~:text=G6PD%20deficiency%20is%20the%20most,have%20been%2C%20exposed%20to%20malaria.&text=G6PD%20deficiency%20possibly%20provides%20a,specific%20nature%20of%20this%20effect.

Post 3: 7/22/23

# data[].attributes.body
More than half of the world is at risk of Malaria infection in the present day, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, and the disease is part of ongoing global public health crises due to its continued (and disproportionate) impact on poorer nations. Though malaria first evolved in tropical Africa 2.5-30 million years ago, the malaria parasite itself was first detected in Algeria in 1880 by the French army doctor Charles Louis Alphonse Laveran, who studied the blood of infected individuals. Malaria has held an instrumental role in human history and evolution; archeological evidence provides ancient Mesopotamian, Egyptian, Indian, Greek, Roman, and Chinese records of the disease, and evidence of the relationship between malaria and human evolution can be found in the form of sickle cell anemia.

Malaria is a mosquito borne protozoan parasitic disease that can both infect humans directly (Plasmodium falciparum, P. vivax, P. ovale, and P. malariae) or through an animal vector (zoonotic transmission of P. knowlesi). Plasmodium parasites are examples of obligate parasites, which require a host for the entirety of their life cycle, and are found in the red blood cells of infected humans. As such, malaria can be transmitted through direct contact with human blood (through needles and blood transfusion, for example) in addition to infection through the bite of Anopheles mosquitoes carrying parasites, however it is not contagious disease and is not airborne, sexually transmitted, or spread through casual contact (touch).

Sources:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4413824/
https://www.cdc.gov/malaria/about/faqs.html
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7792015/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK215638/
https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/malaria

Post 2: 7/15/23

# data[].attributes.body
Malaria is a blood borne infectious disease caused by Plasmodium parasites and spread by Anopheles mosquitoes. There are 4 types of Plasmodium parasites that cause malaria in humans, including Plasmodium falciparum, Plasmodium vivax, Plasmodium ovale and Plasmodium malariae.
Post 1: 7/14/23