Egypt officially declared 'Malaria free'

Why in news?

• Recently, Egypt was officially declared 'malaria free' by the World Health Organization (WHO).
• It is the 5th African country to receive 'malaria free' certification from the World Health Organization

Malaria:

• Malaria is a vector-borne infectious disease that is spread by protozoan parasites of the Plasmodium family.
• The carrier of malaria parasite is the female Anopheles mosquito.
• When it bites, malaria parasites enter the red blood cells and multiply.
• It is a fatal disease that is mainly found in tropical countries.
• It is not contagious and cannot spread from one person to another
• The first symptoms of malaria usually start within 10-15 days of the bite of an infected mosquito.
• Usually fever, headache and chills are felt, although these symptoms may be mild and hard to recognise as malaria.