Malaria is a life-threatening disease. It is primarily transmitted to humans through the bites of infected female Anopheles mosquitoes.

The infection is caused by Plasmodium parasites and does not spread from person to person. Symptoms can be mild or life-threatening. While mild symptoms include fever, chills and headache, severe symptoms are fatigue, confusion, seizures, and difficulty breathing.

Malaria can be prevented by avoiding mosquito bites and with medicines. Treatments can also stop mild cases from getting worse.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) recommends preventing mosquito bites with the help of nets, repellents and protective clothing.

For maximum protection, WHO recommends administration of vaccines alongside a mix of other WHO-recommended malaria interventions such as bed nets and chemoprophylaxis.

However, recently Johns Hopkins experts have highlighted that vaccines alone won't help win the war against malaria.

"Malaria is one of the big 3 global infectious diseases... one of the deadliest and most burdensome in human history," Carlton said.

According to WHO data, there were 282 million cases of malaria in 2024, an increase of about 9 million cases (3%) compared with 2023. The estimated number of malaria deaths stood at 610,000 in 2024 compared to 598,000 in 2023.

Source:Ndtv