malaria
n. uncountablen. a serious disease that you get from the bite of an infected mosquito. It causes a high fever, chills, and sweating.
n. an infectious disease caused by protozoan parasites of the genus Plasmodium, transmitted to humans through the bite of an infected female Anopheles mosquito.
Travelers often take medicine to prevent malaria.
Public health officials distributed insecticide-treated bed nets to help reduce the local transmission of malaria.
While malaria was once endemic in many temperate regions, modern eradication efforts have largely restricted the disease to tropical and subtropical climates where the vector can thrive year-round.
Borrowed from Italian malaria, formed from mal- (“bad”) and aria (“air”). Introduced into English by the Scottish geologist John MacCulloch (1773–1835). Displaced native Old English unlyft (literally “bad air”).
Uncountable when referring to the disease itself; occasionally countable when referring to specific strains or clinical cases.