Malaria in pregnancy and the newborn

Abstract

Each year, 40% of the world’s population is exposed to the risk of malaria infection. Approximately 500 million people suffer clinical disease episodes of malaria, and around one million die from it. The greater part of the world’s malaria burden falls on Africa, but recent analyses suggest the amount of malaria in Asia has been underestimated (Snow et al., 2005). Five Plasmodium species infect humans: P. falciparum, P. vivax, P. malariae, P. ovale, and P. knowlesi. The last, which is a common parasite of monkeys, has only recently been described as a human pathogen (Singh et al., ), but appears to be quite widespread in South East Asia. The great majority of severe disease episodes and deat..