Malaria + Schisto - 17 - 22 Flashcards
What is the global epidemiology of malaria?
Based in subequatorial regions of the world, in particular LICs
WHO 2017, 445 000 deaths worldwide
How and why has the epidemiology of malaria changed in the last 15 years?
There has been a decrease in deaths from malaria due to large-scale interventions
According to the CDC, malaria mortality has decreased by 25% from 2010-16
What is the definition of malaria?
Presence of a lot of parasites in the blood AND symptomatic
What is the definition of parasitaemia?
Presence of parasites in the blood BUT asymptomatic i.e. carrier of parasite
What is the life cycle of malaria?
1) Female Anopheles mosquito takes a blood meal from the human and injects sporozoites into the blood via anticoagulant saliva
2) Sporozoites travel to human liver where they grow + multiply
3) Sporozoites infect RBCs + destroy them + releases daughter cells - this stage causes the symptoms of malaria
4) Male + female gametocytes form in RBCs
5) Mosquito feeds and ingests gametocytes –> mate in mosquito gut + grow into sporozoites
6) Sporozoites migrate to mosquito salivary glands + cycle begins again
What stage of the life cycle causes malarial symptoms?
The human blood stage where the sporozoites infect + destroy RBCs
What are the 5 different types of malaria parasites?
FVM KO P. falciparum P. vivax P. malariae P. knowlesi P. ovale The first three can cause death in humans
What is the clinical manifestation of malaria?
Very non-specific Fever Myalgia Headache Clinical anaemia Abdo pain + vomiting + diarrhoea
What is the gold standard diagnosis for malaria?
Thick + thin blood films
Antigen test
Who are the susceptible populations for severe malaria?
Children < 5
Pregnant women
Why are children + pregnant women susceptible to severe malaria?
They both have weakened immune systems
Pregnant women also express CSA (Chondroiton Sulphate A) which isn’t usually expressed but only in pregnancy - can cause preterm delivery and low birth weight which lowers health outcome due to insufficient neonatal facilities in countries where this is more likely to occur in
What is sequestration?
Whereby RBCs block microvasculature so no normal blood can flow through
Parasites hide in knobs of RBCs so doesn’t get cleared by the spleen
What is the link between sequestration and malaria?
Link between sequestration + severity of disease
What is the gold standard treatment for malaria?
Artemether - contains artemesinin but there is partial resistance
What is the gold treatment for severe malaria?
Artesunate
What vaccine is currently being developed for malaria?
RTS, S
What are the 3 pillars of interventions for malaria?
Vector control
Chemotherapy
Case management
Why was there a plateau in reduction of malaria incidence in 2017?
Donor decrease
Resistance
Poor compliance
Difficult to reach poor access people - only ones left now to treat
What are the 3 stages of malaria transmission?
1) Pre-erythrocytic stage (liver)
2) Erythrocytic stage (blood)
3) Sexual stage (mosquito)
What 2 immune effector mechanisms?
Early immune phase
Late immune phase
What is in the early immune phase?
TEP1 marks parasites for lysis/melanisation
What is the late immune phase?
Expression of NOS by JAK/STAT pathway to kill the paraiste
What happens when ookinete transverses?
Physical damage and time bomb
What are the key barriers in disease control? (x3)
Vector
Parasite
Environment
What are the vector barriers in disease control?
Mosquitoes are adaptive - behaviour + resistance to insecticide
More than one type of mosquito that can transmit malaria
What are the parasite barriers in disease control?
Many species
Adaptive
Plasmodium parasites are complex
Antigenic variation
What are the environmental barriers in disease control?
Remote regions and poor
Malaria is geographically specific
What are the 3 categories of opportunities for disease elimination?
Simple methods
Vector
Parasites
What are the simple methods to eliminate malaria?
Bed nets
Insecticides - resistance
What are the vector methods to eliminate malaria?
Alter mosquitoes so they can’t produce progeny
Produce progeny that can’t transmit malaria
What are the parasite methods to eliminate malaria?
Vaccine - RTS, S
Drugs - increase dose, new compounds and different combo of drugs
What are the problems with the RTS, S vaccine?
It is cost-effective but there is variable efficacy
Initial studies in Malawi + Tanzania show that it is cost-effective even at highest price + lowest VE
Decay in efficacy
High initial outlay
Could shift disease burden to older children in areas of higher transmission
Low efficacy
Why is parasite replication exponential and periodic?
Merozoite producing multiple daughter cell and synchronous rupture of erythrocytes
When high parasite densities are reached, bursting of RBCs every 2 days leads to periodic fevers
What is the gold standard diagnostic test for P. falciparum infection?
Polymerase Chain Reaction
Expensive + time consuming BUT accurate
Rapid diagnostic tests used more commonly as this is expensive but missed cases so still transmissable
What are the 3 types of treatment for malaria?
Drugs - Arthemeter
Chemoprophylaxis - daily doses of anti-malarial drugs before being exposed to parasites
Vaccination
Why is artemisinin usually given with a partner drug as an Artemesinin Combination Therapy (ACT)?
Artemisinin has a very short-half life despite being very efficacious - recurrent infections causes increased resistance due to short half life