Sunday morning Abhishek and his friends emptied all the overhead tanks belonging to flat owners who wese not residing in their apartments for the last few months. On their return, the owners complained about their empty tanks. Some elderly people even spoke against Abhishek and his friends. Abhishek humbly apologized for the inconvenience caused. He explained that water in the tanks had become stagnant and become a breeding ground for mosquitoes which will give rise to malaria. The people appreciated the boys.
(i) What values are reflected by Abhishek in the above case?
(ii) What is the causal agent of malaria and how does it reaches human body?
(iii) How many phases the causal organism undergoes in its lifecycle?
(iv) As an individual what can you do to avoid malaria in your neighbourhood?
(i) Social responsibility, commitment towards community health and respect for elders.
(ii) The causal agent of malaria is Plasmodium the malarial parasite. It is a digenetic parasite with two hosts, i.e., humans and female Anopheles mosquito.
Female Anopheles injects saliva, while puncturing human skin for obtaining blood. The infected mosquito contains a large number of sporozoites in its saliva. The same are passed into human blood.
(iii) Plasmodium has three phases in its life cycle-schizogony, gamogony and sporogony.
(iv) One can do following activities to avoid malaria in your surroundings
(a) Covering open water drains.
(b) Proper drainage for quick transfer of waste water into streams.
© Spraying of insecticides, fumigation in surroundings, cattle sheds, etc.
(d) Using mosquito net, repellents and antimosquito creams.