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No Mosquito Contacts, No Malaria

 
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Why worry

Prevention

References

 
 

Malaria is not prevalent in the United States, so why should I care?

We tend to think that certain diseases that are not prevalent in the United States but are in several other countries is not something we should worry about so therefore it tends to be neglected. In this
situation, we have failed to acknowledge that people are migrating
from those countries to the United States which allows diseases to
spread. Immigrant populations from Latin America in the United
States are increasing.

Although malaria is not one of our public health issues, we have to
remember that there are some people in U.S. Latino communities
that are currently infected with the plasmodium species (vivax);
those that are infected while in Central America is by plasmodium
falciparum. Even though mosquitoes in the U.S. are different species
which makes it harder to spread this disease, we need to keep in
mind that transmission is still possible so therefore we need to change our attitude towards diseases that are not prevalent in the United States but figure out an effective strategy so those few number of people that are infected receive treatment. A review of the preventive health care needs of this population would be helpful to clinicians caring for immigrants in United States.

Malarial disease is a big public health problem in Latin America. The information provided on this webpage would give U.S. residents a sense of how to go about treatment for certain illnesses but also be able to direct anyone in their country of origin what to do and how and how to keep them from getting malaria. Also, since Latinos in the U.S. are traveling back and forth to their home countries, information provided on this webpage would serve as a guide to prevent getting infected as they visit their home country. Latin Americans who plan on migrating to the U.S. will gain knowledge and start taking preventative measures prior to coming to the United States.

 

Accessibility | Privacy | ASU Disclaimer This site was created by Ijeoma Ononenyi in fulfillment of requirements for the course TCL 323 : Latino Health Issues taught by Dr. Szkupinski Quiroga at Arizona State University, Fall 2009.