Plasmodium falciparum ring-forms and gametocytes in human blood.
Malaria comes from parasites that are typically transmitted by mosquitoes. It is found generally in subtropical areas like South America and Africa. Each year, malaria strikes around 400 million people worldwide, killing around 3 million of them. Nearly all the deaths occur in sub-Saharan Africa because of the poor medical care for the patients. People in high-risk areas are always searching for a way to prevent infection. One controversial way to do so is through homeopathy.
Malaria Symptoms & Treatment
Once the parasites are within the bloodstream, they multiply and cause anemia, fever, chills, nausea, and in some cases, a coma. Preventative drugs can be taken constantly in high-risk areas to prevent infection. Controlling mosquitoes will help control the chances of getting malaria, but there is no vaccine that provides protection. However, some people believe homeopathy can prevent malaria.
What is Homeopathy?
Homeopathy is an alternative medicine that treats patients with a small amount of what--in larger doses--would cause the symptoms of a patient's disease. In homeopathy, this is called "The Law of Similars," and it is the backbone of homeopathy. Homeopathic remedies are prepared from natural substances that are potentized in the process of dilution.
Homeopathic Remedies for Malaria
The homeopathic remedies for malaria recommended by British homeopaths for travelers to Africa, according to an article in the Daily Mail, are malaria nosode, said to be made from African swamp water containing mosquito skin, larvae and eggs; China Off (made from Cinchona bark which contains quinine); China Sulph (made from quinine) and Natrum Muriaticum (made from salt). Homeopathic remedies are so diluted that often there is none of the original source material in the tiny pills. This is why the remedies are considered controversial. Homeopaths maintain that the efficacy of a remedy is in an energetic imprint of the original substance.
Cautions About Homeopathy
Investigation in the UK found that some homeopaths were promising tourists homeopathic preventions for malaria. This was not in line with what the homeopaths' code of ethics said homeopaths should be saying. Tourists who took the remedies were found by this study to be just as likely to return with malaria as those who took no medicine. If you are considering using homeopathy for prevention of malaria, you should discuss the treatment with both your doctor and your homeopath. You may want to rely on traditional medications, although with these there may be side effects.
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