National Malaria Day: Refuse to be infected with malaria. Remember these facts

Foreword: The number of malaria cases has dropped from 30 million at its peak to zero, and on June 30, 2021, China officially obtained the WHO certification for malaria elimination, which was praised by the WHO as a remarkable achievement. Experts suggest that malaria elimination does not mean the absence of malaria. We must maintain unremitting efforts in malaria prevention and control, actively promote China's successful anti-malarial experience to the world, and contribute more Chinese wisdom and solutions to building a human health community.

Dahe.com News: Healthy Half-Monthly Talk, Healthy Every Day! Malaria elimination is a major event in my country's public health field. After decades of efforts by several generations, we have achieved a great feat from 30 million to 0 and become a malaria-free country. What happened behind this? What is malaria? And how to prevent it? April 26, 2022 is the 15th "National Malaria Day". The publicity theme of this year's "National Malaria Day" is "Preventing the import and retransmission of malaria and creating a malaria-free world." The "Healthy Half-Monthly Talk" column co-organized by Henan CDC and Dahe.com invited Zhang Hongwei, director of the Institute of Parasitic Diseases of Henan Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention, and Liu Ying, director of the Protozoa Department responsible for malaria prevention and control, to be guests in the live broadcast room to explain in detail to everyone.

Malaria has been prevalent in my country for more than 3,000 years.

Is malaria far from us? What are the symptoms of malaria?

"Malaria, commonly known as 'malaria', 'spleen cold', 'mid-day disease', and 'old fever', is one of the major infectious diseases that seriously endangers people's health and life safety. The WHO lists malaria as one of the three major global public health problems along with AIDS and tuberculosis." Zhang Hongwei, director of the Institute of Parasitic Diseases at the Henan Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said that malaria has a history of prevalence in my country for more than 3,000 years. The miasma that Kong Ming experienced in the seven captures of Meng Huo in "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" was malaria. In "Drawing Sword", Li Yunlong was blocked in the village by Japanese devils and almost died because of malaria.

Malaria is a vector-borne infectious disease caused by a parasite called Plasmodium that infects the human body. It is mainly transmitted through mosquito bites and occasionally through blood transfusions. The typical symptoms of malaria are three consecutive stages of periodic chills, fever, and sweating. After long-term and repeated attacks, it can cause anemia, splenomegaly, and even death.

After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the Party Central Committee led the people of the whole country in the fight against malaria, established a scientific and precise malaria prevention and control strategy and a sensitive and efficient reporting, detection, treatment, monitoring and emergency response system, and had the ability to prevent the import and re-transmission of malaria; developed artemisinin and other antimalarial drugs and treatment plans, innovatively implemented the "1-3-7" work norms for eliminating malaria, which is to complete malaria case reporting within 1 day, case review and epidemiological investigation within 3 days, and epidemic site investigation and disposal within 7 days; and carried out multi-department and regional joint prevention and control as well as border area prevention and control cooperation mechanisms. These Chinese experiences have contributed Chinese wisdom to the global fight against malaria.

"After several generations and decades of hard work, malaria has gone from control to elimination," said Zhang Hongwei.

Eliminating malaria does not mean that there is no malaria in our country

"Although our country has eliminated malaria and there are no local cases, disease knows no borders. There are still more than 90 countries in the world where malaria is prevalent, especially in our province where there are many migrant workers working abroad." Liu Ying said that some people do not get sick abroad but develop the disease after returning home. Others do not receive proper treatment after getting sick abroad and relapse a few months after returning home. Our province has about 200 imported cases every year, of which more than 90% are from sub-Saharan Africa.

At the same time, these imported cases may also cause secondary transmission in the local area. Because the vector Anopheles mosquitoes are widely present, if the imported malaria cases are not discovered and treated in time, the local Anopheles mosquitoes will bite the patients and then bite other people, who will be infected with malaria.

"This requires us to maintain a sensitive monitoring system to detect, diagnose and deal with imported cases from abroad early," said Liu Ying.

Liu Ying reminded that preventing mosquito bites is the most effective measure to prevent malaria. In malaria-endemic areas, we must pay attention to avoiding mosquito bites: first, screen doors and windows can be installed in the room to prevent mosquitoes from entering directly, and residual spray insecticide can be used to apply screen windows during the high-incidence period; second, use mosquito nets when resting, and check whether there are holes in the mosquito nets before going to bed to reduce human-mosquito contact; third, wear long sleeves and long pants when working in the field, and they must be protective long sleeves and long pants to avoid skin exposure. Mosquito repellent cream or mosquito repellent can be applied to exposed parts, or insecticide can be sprayed or mosquito coils can be used to repel mosquitoes; fourth, pay attention to environmental hygiene, remove weeds around the house, fill puddles, reduce mosquito breeding places, and reduce mosquito density; finally, pay attention to nutrition, rest and mental health, and improve the body's immunity.

When returning from abroad, you should prevent malaria

April 26 this year is the 15th "National Malaria Day", and the publicity theme is "Preventing the import and retransmission of malaria and creating a malaria-free world."

"Under the current normalized prevention and control situation of the new crown pneumonia epidemic, 14+7 days of isolation are required after entry, 14 days of isolation upon landing, and another 7 days of isolation after returning to the place of residence. Most malaria patients will develop symptoms within one month after returning to the country." Liu Ying said that some patients will become ill during the isolation period, and since there have been no local malaria cases in the country for 10 years, many staff at isolation points lack awareness of malaria diagnosis and treatment, and delayed diagnosis and treatment often occurs.

Liu Ying called on people returning from overseas malaria-endemic areas to promptly inform the staff at the quarantine point if they experience symptoms such as chills, fever, sweating, and headaches, and to proactively explain that they have returned from malaria-endemic areas. While considering the possibility of infection with COVID-19, they should also be vigilant about whether they have been infected with malaria.

At the same time, after the isolation period expires, if the above symptoms occur, you should still seek medical attention in a timely manner, take personal protection on the way to the hospital, wear a medical surgical mask, and inform medical staff of your travel history to malaria-endemic areas to facilitate medical staff to screen for malaria.

After being diagnosed with malaria, you must follow the doctor's instructions, take the medicine in time and in full, and do not stop taking it at will. If the local hospital does not have the conditions for malaria diagnosis and treatment, you can contact the local Center for Disease Control and Prevention for help.

"Generally speaking, malaria is a preventable and curable disease. It is easy to diagnose, the treatment drugs are very effective, and there are generally no sequelae after recovery," said Liu Ying. (Zhu Chuanpeng/Wen Mukun Jiang Yulu/Photographer Wang Shuangfei/Editor and Director Jiang Mengna/Host)