Thursday 2 February 2012

Malaria Kills

Malaria Kills

 

Intro

Malaria is a killer and it does not discriminate who it takes, saying malaria is a killer is perhaps wrong, malaria is the virus or disease that people are infected with once bitten by a female mosquito. So the killer is the mosquito.....

To get infected and have malaria only takes one bite from these blood thirsty insects.

The reason im writing this Blog is to raise awareness to this Killer as it recently took the life of a baby girl whose father is a close friend in sierra leone.

 

My Life Saver

Isha
me before maleria
me before maleria
me after maleria
me after maleria
Malaria and Me

My case of malaria scared the crap out of me literally. Isha and myself had been out all day saturday visiting her family, we had to meet someone to discuss some work at 5pm in lungi. Well we meet one person and had to wait for someone else who was late, after 5-10mins i said to isha i cant stay here any longer i feel light headed (thinking it may be the sun affecting me).

We left and went back to the house and i went inside and sat on the bed, well the next thing i remember was waking up with people all around me, some shouting at me to wake up, isha was pushing and shaking me to get me focused, all i remember was feeling weak, disorientated and confused, well i managed to sit on the bed.

Isha telling me she'll take me to hospital and me being me saying im ok just let me sit and rest, but no she kept on to me so i decided to call the company emergency number on my mobile, battery flat, sending isha in to a panic, well i had a uk mobile with me so changed battery and called the company.

Was asked what was wrong, i said fever, blackout,dyheria and aches, told to go to hospital in the morning.

Went to bed and woke up soaking wet, shivering, isha already had a taxi waiting for me to take us to the hospital.

At the hospital i was tested and it proved positive and the doctor put me on a drip, well i cant remember who came to the hospital but there was people who traved 2 hours to make sure i was ok. All i remember was a hi-vis vest talking to me telling me i had to go to camp in pepel, well im like dosed up to the eye balls and someone wants to take me on a bumpy car ride to pepel im like no f*cking way,,, isha being isha told me not to be so stuborn and go.

Well if you have maleria dont travel 2 hours in a 4*4 over bumpy roads, it is un healthy, well we get to camp,i get out of car and blackout again, wake myself up and again placed on a drip for 12 hours.

In the morning (Monday) i am given pills and told to stay in cabin, well you dont eat or drink because you just dont feel like it and if you do you bring it back up, you sweat, your body feels as if its done 10 rounds with mike tyson. So after 6 days cabined up i feel fit enough to go back to work, well more out of boredom.

Even after this period of time your body is totally shattered, you still feel weak not all the time it just comes over you at irregular intervals.

Well i came back to the uk and went to see someone who did tarot card readings, and he laided out the cards and said

# you shouldn't be here #

i said what do you mean i should be dead

#yes you should be dead what happened in africa#

i said i had malaria (he did not know i had been to africa, i never told him)

#well you should be dead and someone has saved you and its for a reason#

i said ok, let move on.....

So there i am sitting looking at cards and my minds going back to when i first had a blackout and seeing isha pushing and shoving me..... So i guess Isha saved my life by getting me to wake up.

 

Tattoo as a Thankyou

The Cross
The Cross
Source: Image Taken By Mike Semple
Isha for Bringing Me Back......
Isha for Bringing Me Back......
Source: Image Taken By Mike Semple

New Vaccination

Just read there is a new vaccination for Babies that has just tested 6000 children between the ages of 5 months to 2 years old and the tests look promising.

The vaccine called " RTS'S " will if produced stop the number of infants from catching malaria and dying from the disease at a later date, estimated to claim millions of Africans lives.

 

How Maleria Spread

1. Infected mosquito bites you

2. Parasite goes to your to liver within 30 mins

3. Once in the liver the parasite reproduces, or may lie dormant and become actives years after your infection.

4. Gets into your red blood steam and further reproduces.

5. Infected blood cells then explode and further infect other blood cells.

6. All this does to your body is starve it off oxygen which causes you to have a fever and chills etc.

7. After this takes place to spread it takes another unifected mosquito to bite you and the cycle carries on.

Prevention

Well to prevent or try to prevent being bitten you should try the following.

1. Take anti maleria pills ( i was on these and still caught it, so its not 100%) side effects, these effect your liver and should be stopped after 2 years.

2. Anti mosquito sprays and lotions to uncovered skin.

3. Cover arms and legs between dawn and dusk.

4. Use air conditioning but keep it on Low.

5. Sleep under a mosquito net.

After Effect Video

Fake malaria drugs could 'put millions at risk' Malaria is spread by parasites introduced into the bloodstream by mosquito bites

Fake and poor quality anti-malarial drugs are threatening efforts to control the disease in Africa and could put millions of lives at risk, scientists say.

The counterfeit medicines could harm patients and promote drug resistance among malaria parasites, warns the study, funded by the Wellcome Trust.

Malaria is believed to kill about 800,000 people a year.

Some of the fake tablets are said to have originated in China.

The researchers, from the Wellcome Trust-Mahosot Hospital-Oxford University Tropical Medicine Research Collaboration, published their work in the Malaria Journal.

They examined fake and substandard anti-malarial drugs that were found on sale in 11 African countries between 2002 and 2010.

They discovered that some counterfeits contained a mixture of the wrong pharmaceutical ingredients which would initially alleviate the symptoms of malaria but would not cure it.

"Failure to take action will put at risk the lives of millions of people, particularly children and pregnant women” Quote Dr Paul Newton Lead researcher

Some of the ingredients in the tablets could cause potentially serious side effects, the study found, especially if they were mixed with other drugs a patient might be taking, like anti-retrovirals to treat HIV.

Drug resistance

The malaria parasite can, after a period of time, develop resistance to the drugs being used to treat it.

This has happened in the past with medicines such as chloroquine and mefloquine.

The researchers warn that the fake drugs could lead to the same effect on artemisinin, one of the most effective drugs now being used to treat malaria.

They say small quantities of artemisinin derivatives are being put in some of the counterfeit products to ensure that they pass authenticity tests.

However, at the level it is present, these drugs are unlikely to rid the body of malaria parasites, but could enable them to build up resistance to artemisinin, the study warns.

The Asian origin of the fake drugs was identified using traces of pollen found in some of the tablets.

The lead researcher on the study, Dr Paul Newton, called for urgent measures from African governments to tackle counterfeit anti-malarials.

"Failure to take action will put at risk the lives of millions of people, particularly children and pregnant women," he said.

"The enormous investment in the development, evaluation and deployment of anti-malarials is wasted if the medicines that patients actually take are, due to criminality or carelessness, of poor quality and do not cure."

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