Malaria: pathogenicity and disease.

Abstract

Falciparum malaria is the most important cause of morbidity and mortality resulting from the four human plasmodium species. This chapter deals almost exclusively with this pathogen, although work on other species has contributed to our understanding of the pathogenicity of malaria. Currently approximately 400 million people world-wide are infected with malaria and there are thought to be 130 million new cases of malaria each year. Estimates of attributable mortality suggest that over 1 million people die each year from malaria (http://www.nature.com/nm/specialfocus/malaria, Wahlgren. M, 2000). The great burden of disease is in sub-Saharan Africa where 90% of all deaths occur, the majority of these in children. For this reason the principal focus of this chapter will be on our understanding of the pathogenicity resulting in disease in African children.