Originality of Malaria
![Picture](/uploads/1/7/5/2/17524325/2665397.jpg)
Origin
Where: Africa
What: Primates (questionable)
When: 5-100 million years ago.
Although malaria is known to be spread by female mosquitoes today, it hasn't always been that way. Approximately 5 million years ago was when P. falciparum evolved in Africa but it was only 4000-10000 years ago that the lethal strain of P. falciparum appeared. It is believed that P. malarie, P. ovlae and P. vivax originated 100 million years ago, before the falciparum strain, again, in Africa. The most lethal and prevalent strain of malaria, P. Falciparum's pathology still remains controversial to some extent. The strain has been argued to have originated from either chimpanzees, birds, rodents, bonobos or gorillas. Recent studies and DNA testing show that the parasite plasmodium falciparum was suspected to come from the primate family, this being unconfirmed.
But how did mosquito become the carrier for malaria?
It is believed that during the Neotholic agrarian revolution is when the climate began to become warmer and people started gathering food in a more efficient way. Keys to survival included collecting food from rain forests where mosquitoes were prevalent and because of the growing population of humans in the tropics and subtropics, it lead to a population growth in mosquitoes too, as they had plenty of 'sources' (blood) to survive! Eventually mosquitoes must have 'cross contaminated' the blood that they carried between animals and humans, creating the strains of malaria which probably evolved from primates. Over time malaria has spread from Africa to places like South America, Asia and Mexico due to the climate changes throughout the last few hundred years.
Malaria Today
Today malaria can be found the tropics and subtropics which are warm and moist places. The first map shows common places where malaria has caused fatalities and the second map shows where there is a potential risk of the disease. As the second map displays places like; Asia, Africa, South America and Mexico only have a risk of malaria.
Where: Africa
What: Primates (questionable)
When: 5-100 million years ago.
Although malaria is known to be spread by female mosquitoes today, it hasn't always been that way. Approximately 5 million years ago was when P. falciparum evolved in Africa but it was only 4000-10000 years ago that the lethal strain of P. falciparum appeared. It is believed that P. malarie, P. ovlae and P. vivax originated 100 million years ago, before the falciparum strain, again, in Africa. The most lethal and prevalent strain of malaria, P. Falciparum's pathology still remains controversial to some extent. The strain has been argued to have originated from either chimpanzees, birds, rodents, bonobos or gorillas. Recent studies and DNA testing show that the parasite plasmodium falciparum was suspected to come from the primate family, this being unconfirmed.
But how did mosquito become the carrier for malaria?
It is believed that during the Neotholic agrarian revolution is when the climate began to become warmer and people started gathering food in a more efficient way. Keys to survival included collecting food from rain forests where mosquitoes were prevalent and because of the growing population of humans in the tropics and subtropics, it lead to a population growth in mosquitoes too, as they had plenty of 'sources' (blood) to survive! Eventually mosquitoes must have 'cross contaminated' the blood that they carried between animals and humans, creating the strains of malaria which probably evolved from primates. Over time malaria has spread from Africa to places like South America, Asia and Mexico due to the climate changes throughout the last few hundred years.
Malaria Today
Today malaria can be found the tropics and subtropics which are warm and moist places. The first map shows common places where malaria has caused fatalities and the second map shows where there is a potential risk of the disease. As the second map displays places like; Asia, Africa, South America and Mexico only have a risk of malaria.