Malakooti press release Malaria Rises to New Heights Malaria is reemerging in the highlands of Kenya. The number of malaria cases at high elevations in Kenya is increasing, according to M.A. Malakooti in an article to be published in an upcoming issue of Emerging Infectious Diseases.
Malaria is caused by a blood parasite, Plasmodium falciparum .
The parasite is carried from person to person by mosquitoes. Malaria, therefore, is not expected at high altitudes where the temperature is cooler. One factor that has changed, however, is increasing resistance of the malaria parasite to drugs. Until more effective drugs become available, he recommends increasing insecticide use to better combat the mosquito vector and perhaps giving malaria medication to persons to prevent the epidemics that appear to follow months with heavy rainfall.