New Malaria Strain

[Wino]

Malaria is scary enough, but this new strain found on the Thai-Cambodian border is really bad news.

By CHRISTOPHER SHAY / HONG KONG Every year, thousands of workers arrive at the sapphire and ruby mines of Pailin, Cambodia, risking their lives to unearth gems in the landmine-ridden territory. Soon, however, they could be the ones to put millions of others at risk. On the Thai-Cambodian border, a rogue strain of malaria has started to resist artemisinin, the only remaining effective drug in the world's arsenal against malaria's most deadly strain, Plasmodium falciparum. For six decades, malaria drugs like chloroquine and mefloquine have fallen impotent in this Southeast Asian border area, allowing stronger strains to spread to Burma, India and Africa. But this time there's no new wonder drug waiting in the wings. "It would be unspeakably dire if resistance formed to artemisinin," says Amir Attaran, a professor of law and medicine at the University of Ottawa who has written extensively on malaria issues.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20091114/wl_time/08599193923900

[WannaGo]

The last paragraph of the story paints a pretty dire picture, doesn't it?

Whatever the tactics, everybody can agree on one thing: time is running out. Modeling by the Mahidol-Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit published in the Malaria Journal in February predicts that if nothing is done in the next two decades, "resistance to artemisinins will be approaching 100%." And if that happens, it won't be long until the resistant strain spreads from Cambodia's precious gem mines to Africa, putting half the world's population at risk of catching what would be an untreatable, deadly disease.

[Wino]

Let us hope that the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation continue to fund malaria research. Their long-term goal is to eradicate this deadly disease and I hope they are successful.

[WannaGo]

I don't know if eradication will ever be possible -- mosquitoes will always carry it, and people will always get bitten by mosquitoes -- but hopefully they can create a more effective medication. In the meantime, I agree with one of the guys in the article who said they need to work on prevention because it is possible to reduce mosquito populations and adopt safer practices (using mosquito nets and repellents, avoiding peak hours, etc.) that lower the chances of being bitten by infected mosquitoes. I just don't agree with the guy that it's an either/or proposition. They can and should work at this problem from both sides.

[Wino]

Prevention is a good idea. I hope for a vaccine.

[WannaGo]

I hope for a vaccine.

That may be on the horizon.

"Walter and Eliza Hall Institute scientists have created a weakened strain of the malaria parasite that will be used as a live vaccine against the disease. The vaccine, developed in collaboration with researchers from the US, Japan and Canada, will be trialled in humans from early next year."

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[Wino]

The Gates Foundation is doing a good job funding malaria research. My hope is that once a vaccine is developed, the disease will be eradicated. Like the HIV virus, it may mutate and continue causing misery throughout the world.

[WannaGo]

My hope is that once a vaccine is developed, the disease will be eradicated.

Malaria has become a rarity in the US, mainly because we control mosquito populations. It's only the female Anopheles mosquito that carries and transmits malaria, and it is possible to suppress those populations to the point of collapse, in some cases. So far, there does not seem to be any widespread or long-term ecological damage caused by wiping out mosquitoes. We'll never get rid of them entirely, but massive reductions in their numbers lowers the chance of getting bitten by a carrier.

[Wino]

I would think it is much harder to control the mosquito population in the tropics. With so much rain, it give mosquitos many areas to breed.