SciDev.Net

Thursday, 20 November 2008

Health

Definitions

Below is a directory of terms used to talk about malaria. Most definitions have been taken from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Healthcare poses a complex challenge for developing countries, interweaving problems of science, health and development.

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A

Anaemia

A reduction in the number of circulating red blood cells or in the quantity of haemoglobin.

Anopheles

A genus of mosquito, some species of which can transmit human malaria.

Antibiotic

Antimicrobial agent made from a mould or a bacterium that kills or slows the growth of other microbes, specifically bacteria. Example: penicillin.

Antibody

A protein produced by lymphocytes in the blood in response to an exposure to foreign proteins ('antigens'). The antibodies specifically bind to the antigens that induced the immune response. Antibodies help defend the body against infectious agents such as bacteria, viruses or parasites.

Antigen

Any substance that stimulates the immune system to produce antibodies. Antigens are often foreign substances such as invading bacteria, viruses or parasites.

Antimicrobial agents

The drugs, chemicals, or other substances that kill or slow the growth of microbes. They include antibacterial drugs, antiviral agents, antifungal agents, and antiparasitic drugs.

Antimicrobial resistance

Antimicrobial resistance is the result of microbes changing in their DNA to reduce or eliminate the effectiveness of drugs, chemicals, or other agents to cure or prevent infections.

Artemisinin

The WHO's recommended drug for malaria, derived from the Chinese sweet wormwood plant, Artemisia annua.

Autochthonous

Malaria transmitted by mosquitoes. Autochthonous malaria can be indigenous (in a geographic area where malaria occurs regularly) or introduced (in a geographic area where malaria does not occur regularly).

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