The Leonard Lopate Show

The United Methodist Church has been working hard to treat and prevent malaria in Africa and other parts of the world. It has also teamed up with the well known "Nothing but Nets" campaign, www.nothingbutnets.org . Gifts to the UMC's efforts to treat and prevent malaria are 100% applicable. Administrative costs are covered through offerings given in local Methodist churches. www.givetomission.org will take you to a website that will allow you to search for malaria-related projects.

Does current testing for malaria no longer have as many false negatives because of different strains or is that still an isssue? I once had a patient with malaria who came up negative on multiple hospital/commercial lab testing as well as on CDC testing but who was positive when tested by a malaria researcher. She subsequently responded well to antimalarial medication.

the reason that malaria prevails in africa is not that it's the poorest continent but because there's hardly any money put into healthcare. african rulers steal from their people and invest practically nothing in their countries. that's the reason.

The introduction of Bti has led to the control of many fly- and mosquito-borne diseases, such as river blindness in Africa and malarial infections along the Yangtze River in China-by Prof Margalit of Israel- why isnt it being used- there is no damage to anything else except the mosquito

The importance of Margalith's Bti is that it is an environmentally safe biological pesticide found in nature. Used as a biological control agent, the bacteria kill immature mosquitoes before they begin to fly without harming the surrounding flora and fauna, including the natural enemies of larval mosquitoes.

This natural enemy to the mosquito and black fly is often far cheaper than chemical alternatives. No significant resistance to Bti has been reported in over twenty years of use. Bti has increasingly been chosen for controlling mosquito and black fly born diseases. Bti has been used very effectively against river blindness, along the Volta River in eleven African countries. The sight of millions has been saved and repopulation of deserted river valleys has been initiated. Additionally, malarial infections from pesticide resistant mosquitoes have dropped by 90% along the Yangtze River, China, which has a population of over 20 million people.

Margalith has expanded his work beyond merely promoting the use of Bti. Taking it a step further, he has introduced the concept of Integrated Biological Control (IBC) against mosquitoes in the Middle East, Central Asia, Europe, and Africa. Integrated Biological Control includes not only production and introduction of Bti into mosquito and black fly infested areas but also involves ecological manipulation of the mosquito and black fly habitat as well as introduction of fish predators to the insects breeding areas.

what would happen if sickle-cell anemia sufferers here in the u.s. were treated with a malaria infection ???

wouldn't that give the sickle-cells something to do ??

but once a person gets malaria there can be flare-ups later ?? yes i know i am being simplistic, naive, and wrong-headed !!!

I heard stories that these nets were used for other things. I saw a wedding dress online partly made of these nets. Is it better ot give them out or sell them for a LOW cost.

I'm glad that attention is being paid to malaria, especially given how preventable this is, but what really needs to occur is a comprehensive plan for water. The WHO traces dozens of diseases back to water. Even malaria, while not waterborne has a connection to H20 because of its necessity for the development of mosquito larvae.

Much of the violence in Darfur can be traced back to water disputes.

We may always have areas of drought, but we do have the technology to improve accessibility to clean water, and we must do it.