According to the WHO, children under the age of five are the most vulnerable group to this disease, also known in Mexico as Paludismo.
MEXICO, April 27, 2021, (SIPSE).- Malaria is an infectious disease that has afflicted the population since the last century, and although at present, its incidence has decreased, in Mexico, there are still new cases reported in Chiapas, Oaxaca, Nayarit, Durango, Sinaloa, and Sonora, which are the most affected states.
The most recent statistics from the World Health Organization (WHO), from 2019, show that 229 million people suffer from Malaria worldwide, so it is still part of a public health problem.
Malaria is known as a condition triggered by the bite of a female “Anopheles” mosquito, which in addition to being preventable, is curable. However, its late treatment has caused the death of thousands of people in the world. Especially in African regions, where 94% of the cases are registered.
The WHO estimates that Malaria has caused the death of 409 thousand people. The agency highlighted that children under five years of age represent the most vulnerable group affected, constituting 67% of those infected, equivalent to 274 thousand deaths from this disease.
Lorena González López, from the Faculty of Medicine (FM) of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), who has studied Malaria closely, stated that one of the main causes of the appearance of new cases is migration, since it is transmitted through the mobility of the inhabitants.
The expert, from the Department of Microbiology and Parasitology of the UNAM, has studied the way in which the “Plasmodium Berghei” acts, a protozoan parasite that causes Malaria in some rodents, to understand the mechanisms by which it leads to complete its life cycle.
For the researcher, this disease implies a public health problem of a social nature. This is because, in regions where malaria is highly endemic, it affects a specific locality, people are often infected, developing acquired immunity.