10 Malaria Facts You Probably Didn't Know...

 

 Fact 1: 

About 90% of malaria deaths occur in the Sahara in Africa, most of which happened to children under the age of 5, this is because adults in the area have developed an immunity towards mosquito bites, and the younger children have low immunities, therefore making them more vunerable to malaria.

 

 Fact 2:

In very rare cases of malaria, the plasmodium parasites stay dormant inside the infected person and the victim doesn't show signs of malaria for up to 4 years when the parasites reactivate.

 

 Fact 3:

Malaria is not a contagious disease! The only way of contracting malaria is to have an infected mosquito bite you.

 

 Fact 4:

Eight presidents had suffered from malaria!:

 

1. George Washington had malaria when he was 17,  he did not die from the disease but he suffered from relapses throughout his life.

 

2. Abraham Lincoln also got the disease while growing up in Illinois.

 

3. James Monroe got malaria when he visited a swamp area of the Mississippi River. The symptoms of malaria showed up years afterwards his visit.

 

4. Andrew Jackson contracted malaria in Florida when he was on military campaigns.

 

5. Ulysses Grant suffered from frequent attacks malaria in the 1850s while living on a farm.

 

6. James Garfield came down with malaria at age 16 in Ohio.

 

7. John Kennedy had malaria whilst in the Solomon Islands during WW2.

 

8. Theodore Roosevelt had malaria after a visit to the Amazon rainforest. Although the malaria did not kill him, he came back to the US very weak and spent many years lying in bed ill.

 

 Fact 5:

Malaria can only be transmitted by femal mosquitos.

 

 Fact 6:  

Half of the world's population may be at risk of contracting malaria. (You have been warned)

 

 Fact 7:  

Mosquito nets have been made to prevent malaria, these nets are used for stopping mosquitos from flying past the net, but are only effective for 3-5 years.

 

 Fact 8:  

Pregnant women are at most risk of malaria because the malaria may infect the child and make it weak and premature at birth.

 

 Fact 9:  

When a person is bitten by a mosquito, the plasmodium parasites first go to the liver to attack the red blood cells.

 

 Fact 10:

Half of the humans that have ever lived, died from malaria. (Linger on that for a while!)