Dr. Ambrose Talisuna, Uganda representative for Medicines for Malaria Venture and the former head of epidemiology and surveillance for the Ministry of Health in Uganda, and Sally Ethelston, director of communications and advocacy for the PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative, discuss progress toward a malaria vaccine and the goal of eradicating the disease by 2015.
Comments [6]
It was the mosquitoes that carry the parasites that grew resistant to DDT in Africa and elsewhere in the 1960s. Malaria is caused by parasites, not bacteria. The parasites must spend part of their life cycle in mosquitoes, part in humans.
I'm sure you were just typing quickly.
Resistance is a problem -- mosquito resistance to pesticides, and the parasites' resistance to the pharmaceuticals used to treat humans if the parasites infect. Malaria is a multi-layered problem.
I partly disagree with the listener. Malaria causes corruption because of lost productivity, deaths, and exorbitant healthcare costs.
Will these vaccines have mercury in them?
Because of the misuse of DDT and its horrors enumerated in "Silent Spring", we banned DDT in 1972.
Unfortunately, had it been used properly on mosquito netting in Africa its use could have saved perhaps 20 million lives. It would still be preventing the deaths you indicate.
The analogy might be something like gasoline. Very dangerous, even fatal, but don't drink it.
We need to heed scientific evidence on all sides to save the most lives.
We forget that malaria was a serious public health problem in the US up until the 1930s. It caused the deaths of thousands of soldiers during the Civil War.
I'm currently reading "The Coming Plague" by Laurie Garrett and in it she sets the fight to eradicate malaria in a historical context. It was first attempted in the 1960s but failed because of bacteria's resistance to DDT. Any attempt to vaccinate against malaria must be treated skeptically because of the chances for evolutionary resistance. Rather, spend all that money on cheap bed nets not high-paid consultants.
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