malaria

«malaria» in Mova's school dictionary: a serious illness that causes high fever, shivering and… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 1 sentence of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

noun (malaria, uncountable)

meaning for a pupil

1) Malaria is a serious illness that causes high fever, shivering and sweating, and can kill if it is not treated. tree →

2) It is caused by a tiny parasite that gets into the blood when an infected mosquito bites a person. tree →

sense in the lessons

In science and health lessons, malaria is the classic example of a disease spread by an animal (the mosquito), so pupils learn about life cycles, hot wet climates and how to stay safe: bed nets, insect spray, draining still water, and medicine for travellers. In geography it is linked to tropical countries, mostly in Africa. In history, it slowed down building projects such as the Panama Canal. Phrases: «catch malaria», «malaria nets», «anti-malaria tablets», «malaria vaccine».

examples

• Malaria is spread by mosquito bites. tree →
• Many children in Africa sleep under nets to stop malaria. tree →
• Before the trip, Dad took anti-malaria tablets. tree →
• Malaria gives you a very high fever. tree →
• Mosquitoes lay their eggs in still water, so people drain puddles to fight malaria. tree →
• Scientists have made vaccines against malaria. tree →
• You cannot catch malaria by touching someone who has it. tree →

note

Uncountable: «malaria», not «a malaria». Myth: the name comes from Italian «bad air», because people once thought bad air from swamps caused it; in fact it is the mosquito. Only some mosquitoes (female Anopheles) spread it. It is treatable and preventable.

In the corpora

• Tu Youyou used one: she tested an old Chinese remedy and found a malaria medicine that won a Nobel Prize.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «malaria» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.