Top 10 Most Deadly Animals:
10. Poison Dart Frog
9.  Cape Buffalo
8.  Polar Bear
7.  Elephant
6.  Saltwater Crocodile
5.  African Lion
4.  Great White Shark
3.  Box Jellyfish
2.  Asian Cobra
1.  Mosquito (malaria)

We have been studying Life Science. Last week it was protozoa.  That may seem boring to some of you, but I found it very timely because Plasmodium is a member of this group, and Plasmodium, carried by mosquitos, causes malaria.  Since mosquitoes are the world's deadliest animals (carrying malaria) and more than 80% of malaria deaths worldwide occur in Africa south of the Sahara, I thought it might be a good idea to learn a little more about it.

* Between 350 and 500 million clinical episodes of malaria occur every year. 
* About 2 million deaths occur every year due to malaria.

There are 4 different types of malaria:

Plasmodium falciparum: most lethal type of malaria because it can become cerebral malaria, but, thankfully, it does not stay in your system. Once you go through the treatment, it is erradicated. But, even though it doesn't stay in your system...you can be repeatedly infected.  You do not become immune once you have it.

Plasmodium vivax: seldom fatal, but more often causes debilitating symptoms and has dormant liver stages that can re-activate and invade the blood ("relapse") several months or years after the infecting mosquito bite.

Plasmodium malariae: found worldwide, is the only human malaria parasite species that has a quartan cycle (three-day cycle). (The three other species have a tertian, two-day cycle). Plasmodium malariae causes a long-lasting infection that in some cases can last a lifetime.

Plasmodium ovale: found mostly in Africa (especially West Africa) and the islands of the western Pacific. It is very similar to P. vivax in the sense that it has dormant liver stages that can cause relapse. However, different from P. vivax, it can infect individuals who are negative for the Duffy blood group, which is the case for many residents of sub Saharan Africa.

Many people here in the US don't know that malaria is 1) a parasite  2) that it is transmitted only by mosquitoes (one specific type of mosquito and only the females of those!)  3) it is not contagious  4) there are 4 types of malaria and  5) it is not always fatal. 

The symptoms are fever, chills and sweats, great weakness...much like the flu, but worse.  There are treatments, but to be effective they must be administered quickly.  If the sympoms continue for more than a week they can be fatal.   We will be required to take a malaria "prevention" drug - a prophylaxis.  The best drug, Malarone, is $7 per person per day!  Just add that up in your head for a family of 4.  It's outrageous.  Malarone is $5 per pill where we'll be going, but it's scarce.  Our other options are not quite as effective at warding off the parasite, but much less expensive.  

So...we will depend on the Lord to provide what we need, trusting that He knows far better than we what we'll encounter there and what our bodies can take.