If it isn’t clear yet, a lot of people hate mosquitoes. Some hate them for constantly biting us, while others hate them for sucking our blood and giving us allergies.

The worst part about mosquitoes, however, is that they carry a deadly disease known as malaria. Malaria is a disease that results from a severe lack of blood cells to send oxygen to the tissues of your body and it can damage your kidneys, liver, or even your spleen. 

If that wasn’t bad enough, some countries had to go through a second pandemic because of it. According to the CDC, in 2019 nearly 230 million infections and over 400 thousand deaths were caused by malaria. 

WJPS teacher, Mr. Lao said, “I don’t think malaria will affect schools here at WJPS or anywhere in New York State or even in the United States. Malaria is very treatable and I feel it is not a concern.”

WJPS guidance counselor Ms. Paplow said, “With summer coming to an end and a decrease in mosquitos, my hope is that malaria won’t have an effect on schools.”

While it is deadly in countries like Argentina and Morocco, it is highly unlikely that it will spread into America, like how COVID has. This is mostly because of the COVID pandemic that acts as a counterplay to having infected people move to different countries and spreading malaria there.

Some more good news about this is that there is currently a vaccine for malaria in progress. According to the R21 Trial, around 450 kids took the malaria vaccine, with the results of the vaccine being approximately 74-77% effective against the disease.

Overall, because of both the vaccine information and that malaria can be treated easily, WJPS is highly unlikely to be impacted by malaria.

“Mosquito” by Gerald Yuvallos is licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0