malaria

[ muh-lair-ee-uh ]

noun

1. Pathology. any of a group of diseases, usually intermittent or remittent, characterized by attacks of chills, fever, and sweating: formerly supposed to be due to swamp exhalations but now known to be caused by a parasitic protozoan, which is transferred to the human bloodstream by a mosquito of the genus Anopheles and which occupies and destroys red blood cells.
2. Archaic. unwholesome or poisonous air.

malaria

/ məˈlɛərɪə /

noun

1. an infectious disease characterized by recurring attacks of chills and fever, caused by the bite of an anopheles mosquito infected with any of four protozoans of the genus Plasmodium ( P. vivax, P. falciparum, P. malariae, or P. ovale )

malaria

/ mə-lâr′ē-ə /

1. An infectious disease of tropical areas caused by the parasitic infection of red blood cells by a protozoan of the genus Plasmodium, which is transmitted by the bite of an infected female mosquito. Malaria is characterized by recurrent episodes of chills, fever, sweating, and anemia and is endemic in Africa, Central America, and much of Southern Asia and northern South America.

malaria

1. An infectious disease caused by a parasite that is transmitted by the bite of an infected mosquito. Persons suffering from malaria experience periodic episodes of chills and fever.

Derived Forms

• maˈlarial, adjective

Other Words From

• ma·lari·al ma·lari·an ma·lari·ous adjective
• nonma·lari·al adjective
• nonma·lari·an adjective
• nonma·lari·ous adjective
• postma·lari·al adjective
• pseudo·ma·lari·a noun
• unma·lari·al adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of malaria¹

1730–40; < Italian, contraction of mala aria bad air

Word History and Origins

Origin of malaria¹

C18: from Italian mala aria bad air, from the belief that the disease was caused by the unwholesome air in swampy districts

Example Sentences

Plus, there had already been a failed attempt to eradicate malaria.

From Vox

Consider, for context, that the infectious agent that causes malaria has been known for 140 years and there still, as yet, is no approved vaccine to prevent the disease.

From Fortune

Talking about zoonotic diseases is different than talking about tuberculosis or malaria.

From Nautilus

In the future, the breakthrough is likely to speed the development of new medicines for everything from malaria to cancer.

From Fortune

Portugal, now at the Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology in Berlin, and her colleagues identified around 600 people in Mali infected with malaria in 2017 and 2018.

From Science News

Kids suffering from malaria or extreme diarrhea are now too often left without medical care.

From The Daily Beast

She says the nurses have done some tests and say her daughter has malaria.

From The Daily Beast

Malaria, which is spread my mosquitoes, has also been on the rise since the camp was flooded.

From The Daily Beast

With less than a dozen toilets in the entire community, poor sanitation fuels high rates of malaria and lethal cases of diarrhea.

From The Daily Beast

A shocking statistic among many is that, on average, one person dies of malaria there every 30 seconds.

From The Daily Beast

In estivo-autumnal malaria the gametes take distinctive ovoid and crescentic forms, and are not difficult to recognize.

From Project Gutenberg

In estivo-autumnal fever the regular grouping, while usually present at first, is soon lost, thus causing "irregular malaria."

From Project Gutenberg

Peter brought the blanket and left him alone, while he faced this new trouble which bore no resemblance to malaria.

From Project Gutenberg

If he had malaria it clung to him year after year, while he grew more reserved and silent, and saw less and less of the people.

From Project Gutenberg

As in the low marshy ground at the mouths of the Liri and Volturno, malaria is very prevalent.

From Project Gutenberg

More About Malaria

What is malaria?

Malaria is the collective name of a potentially fatal group of diseases caused by parasitic organisms spread through bites of a particular mosquito.

Symptoms of malaria include periods of fever, chills, and sweating followed by respiratory problems and organ failure and, finally, death. Malaria is preventable and, if it’s caught early, it is curable.

Malaria is caused by a parasitic, microscopic organism known as a protozoan. At least four members of the genus Plasmodium are known to cause malaria in humans. These are P. falciparum, P. malariae, P. ovale, and P. vivax. P.knowlesi may also cause malaria.

These protozoa enter the bloodstream through a bite from several different species of female mosquitoes from the genus Anopheles. The protozoa are more likely to live inside a mosquito with a long life and are more likely to enter humans if the mosquito has a tendency to bite humans instead of animals.

The majority of species of Anopheles mosquitoes that fit both categories are native to Africa. For this reason, over 90 percent of the world’s malaria cases occur in Africa. In 2018, there were 228 million cases of malaria, with 405 thousand deaths.

Why is malaria important?

The first records of the word malaria come from around 1730. It is a contraction of the Italian mala aria, meaning “bad air.” People once thought malaria was caused by poisonous air, but we now know this is not true.

Children under 5 years old are the most at risk of dying from malaria. This age group alone accounted for 274,000 (67 percent) of malaria deaths in 2018.

The biggest factor in the infection rate of malaria is the number of mosquitoes that spread the protozoa. Climate and rainfall have a large impact on the survival of the mosquitoes, so weather patterns actually play a big role in how many people are likely to be infected with malaria. Being repeatedly bitten by these mosquitoes can also lead to a partial immunity to the disease, which is why young children who have never been bitten are most vulnerable.

Did you know … ?

The fact that malaria is caused by protozoa spread by mosquitoes was discovered by British surgeon Sir Ronald Ross. Ross dedicated much of his life to the prevention of malaria and was awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1902 for his work. In addition to medicine, Ross was also interested in poetry, and he actually wrote multiple poems about his war against malaria.

What are real-life examples of malaria?

This image shows a computerized recreation of red blood cells infected with malaria-causing protozoa. You can actually see the protozoa in several of the cells.

https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/illustration/plasmodium-vivax-inside-red-blood-cells-royalty-free-illustration/1193686224?adppopup=true

Malaria is a deadly disease that kills hundreds of thousands of people every year.

JNU scientists Dr Anand Ranganathan and Shailaja Singh make a pioneering discovery for malaria treatmenthttps://t.co/WrOFBD5RT1

— OpIndia.com (@OpIndia_com) August 28, 2020

Treatment of #Malaria is available FREE OF COST at all Government health facilities. Only completion of the treatment allows you to #BeatMalaria.

Know more here: https://t.co/tLDlqMOYCz #SwasthaBharat #HealthForAll pic.twitter.com/BAmVWDHQKs

— Ministry of Health (@MoHFW_INDIA) August 27, 2020

What other words are related to malaria?

• disease
• Protozoa
• blood
• mosquito
• Africa

Quiz yourself!

Malaria is caused by protozoa entering the bloodstream through bites from:

A. ticks
B. mosquitoes
C. fleas
D. spiders