CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.2 General Introduction

Malaria is a public health problem (Loset and Kaur, 2009; Karuna et al., 2014). It is an important cause of morbidity and mortality in children and adults in tropical countries.

About half of the world’s population is at risk of this mosquito borne parasitic disease (WHO, 2010). Malaria is caused by the protozoan parasite Plasmodium and transmitted by mosquitoes (Shah and Patel, 2012). Five species of the parasite have been shown to infect humans: P. falciparum, P. vivax, P. ovale, P. malariae and P. knowlesi. While they share a basic life-cycle, certain distinctive features relate to the virulence of each species. P. falciparum causes the most severe manifestations of malaria including coma, anaemia and multi organ failure. The severity of P. falciparum infection has been attributed to the relatively high parasitemias during infection and to the adherence of P. falciparum infected erythrocytes to the endothelium of capillaries and venules, a process known as sequestration (Dondorp, 2008)

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