Abnormal Development - Malaria

Introduction

Malaria (plasmodium falciparum)

About 10,000 women and 200,000 babies die annually because of malaria in pregnancy, which can cause miscarriages, preterm births, and low-birth-weight births. There are four types of malaria caused by the protozoan parasite Plasmodium falciparum (main), Plasmodium vivax, Plasmodium ovale, Plasmodium malariae. Placental infection is common in regions where malaria is endemic with women carrying their first pregnancy (primigravida).

Global limits and endemicity of P. falciparum in 2007

Some Recent Findings

Plasmodium vivax malaria "Up to 40% of the world's population is at risk for Plasmodium vivax malaria, a disease that imposes a major public health and economic burden on endemic countries. Because P. vivax produces latent liver forms, eradication of P. vivax malaria is more challenging than it is for P. falciparum."

Placental Infections

• Several infective agents may cross into the placenta from the maternal circulation, as well as enter the embryo/fetal circulation. The variety of bacterial infections that can occur during pregnancy is as variable as the potential developmental effects, from virtually insignificant to a major developmental, abortive or fatal in outcome.
• Pregnant women have an increased susceptibility to malaria infection. Malarial infection of the placenta by sequestration of the infected red blood cells leading to low birth weight and other effects.

References

Bookshelf

Bioinformatics in Tropical Disease Research: A Practical and Case-Study Approach Gruber, Arthur; Durham, Alan M.; Huynh, Chuong; del Portillo, Hernando A., editors Bethesda (MD): National Library of Medicine (US), NCBI; 2008 Control of Gene Expression in Plasmodium

Search PubMed

Search April 2010

Search Pubmed: Placental Malaria

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Cite this page: Hill, M.A. (2024, April 25) Embryology Abnormal Development - Malaria. Retrieved from https://embryology.med.unsw.edu.au/embryology/index.php/Abnormal_Development_-_Malaria

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© Dr Mark Hill 2024, UNSW Embryology ISBN: 978 0 7334 2609 4 - UNSW CRICOS Provider Code No. 00098G