Malaria Mosquitoes

Malaria Mosquitoes

I got my first mosquito bite yesterday. I didn’t even notice until I rubbed my elbow and the itch started. It happened during our time with out Kiswahili tutor in the late morning. I thought the little critters were most active at dawn and dusk. Anyway, one found me. It wasn’t a big deal at first, and then I started thinking. That usually gets me in trouble. I found myself on several occasions looking at the vein in my arm pictured Plasmodium falciparum coursing through my blood stream. My thought-movie was in Technicolor and nifty animation like you’d see in House, M.D. or CSI. (My imagination was in overdrive.)

I have never had to worry about contagious disease like this before. The majority of people around me, Tanzanians that is, it’s a fact of life. Some put it like this, though I didn’t remember who said it: In the US, you get sick and assume it’s a cold or the flu. In Tanzania, you get sick and you treat it like malaria. I read a statistic that said that up to sixty percent of Tanzania’s adult population has asymptomatic malaria. That means that any given time, their blood would test positive for the parasite, yet show no physical symptoms of the disease. This is a positive for adults as their system apparently has enough immunity to keep a symptomatic infection at bay. Children, those hardest hit by malaria, do not have this advantage as they have had less exposure to the disease. Thinking about the depth and breadth of this issue can be overwhelming. The biggest hindrance to eradication in the country is funding. Funding is needed for many areas not just healthcare. It would take an overhaul of the nation’s public sanitation and water systems as well as additions to the system combined with universal malaria education and a public support of the project. The standing water virtually everywhere is the perfect breeding ground for these nasty pests. Eradication is a long way off in this country. Until then it’s about prevention and public awareness.