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2023-06-30
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If there's Relation between Malaria and COVID -19
Zainab S. Erzaiq
PHD of Medical Microbiology
DOI: https://doi.org/10.25130/mjotu.29.2023.1.83-90
Keywords: Malaria; COVID-19; WHO
Abstract
Malaria is a parasitic infection, caused by parasites of the genus Plasmodium and transmitted by Anopheles mosquitoes, that leads to an acute life-threatening disease and poses a notable global health threating . According to the World Health Organization (WHO) data of 2019, about 228 million cases of malaria and 405,000 deaths were reported worldwide.Due to the similarity of symptoms between malaria and COVID-19, especially fever, difficulty in breathing, fatigue and headache of acute onset, a malaria patient may be misdiagnosed as COVID-19 and vice versa. Moreover, complications like acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), septic shock, and multi-organ failure can also happen in both malaria and COVID-19. The first step to identify a COVID-19 patient is the symptomatic screening, which consists of shortness of breath, fever, dry cough, sore throat, headache and myalgia in a high-risk patient like healthcare workers or patients with a history of contact with a confirmed COVID-19 case.Some scientists attribute the inverse relationship between COVID 19 and malaria to the wide use of hydroxychloroquine (HCQ), chloroquine (CQ) and other anti-malarial drugs in countries that are endemic for malaria. In conclusion, COVID-19 has a variable prevalence among countries which is lower than expected in malaria-endemic regions. In addition to the possible role of health infrastructure and mitigation tools adopted, Both hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) and chloroquine (CQ) may have preventive and curative effects against SARS-CoV-2 virus through different mechanisms, however, clinical trials are still investigating the use of these medications as a potential treatment and preventive measures. The lower than expected number of cases detected in Asia suggests that the young age structure may be protective of severe and thus detectable cases.
