Oh, yes, they saw it all the time. "Actually there is a lot of it," added Margaret, the district officer.
"Malaria is here."
"Local people?" Githeko asked. If people who hadn't traveled out of the area had gotten the disease, that meant that mosquitoes were transmitting the disease locally, Githeko believed.
"Yeah, local people!" exclaimed Susan, the medical technologist.
"Wow," Githeko said. He shook his head. He asked to come into the clinic. "I have to explain to you why this is going on," he told them.
* * *
In the clinic's laboratory, a room the size of a small bedroom, a microscope sat next to a rack with drying glass slides on the clinic's lab bench, a waisthigh counter facing a window. Taped to the wall were wellthumbed photocopies from a medical textbook with diagrams of malarial parasites. Githeko placed his laptop on the lab bench, booted it up, and launched a PowerPoint presentation.
As the health workers crowded in to watch the screen, Githeko explained the biology of malaria mosquitoes—how at 18 degrees C (64 degrees F), malaria parasites reproduced too slowly to mature during the lifetime of the mosquito, but at 20 degrees C (68°= degrees F) they reproduced quickly and easily. "That's why you might not think there's a big climate change, but, in the mosquito world, two degrees makes a big difference." He showed a slide with an analysis he had done of historical weather records. It showed that in the central Kenya highlands—right where they were—the mean temperature warmed past 18 degrees C, the critical threshold for malarial mosquitoes, in 1994. The health workers listened intently and nodded. Bernard, the nurse, took notes.
Githeko contrasted endemic malaria, in which people have been exposed and have some degree of resistance, with infections in highland areas, where residents would lack the immunological defenses to hold the parasite at bay. That's been the situation in the western Kenya hills over the last two decades, Githeko told the health workers. "We call it unstable transmission, and it's very, very dangerous."
The busy health workers at Gatei Health Centre saw about 500 patients a week with all sorts of ailments; about 15 of them, or 3 percent, had malaria. They often saw malaria in babies and young children who came in with diarrhea, vomiting, headaches, and high fever. Bernard spotted the symptoms and took the blood samples, Susan did tests to confirm malaria parasites in the blood, and then they prescribed medicine. Almost none of the families had cars, and the sickest kids often needed to go seven kilometers on a bus to the regional hospital. The clinic workers saved many, but some children died before they could get there.
In an epidemic, one in three people walking into the clinic would have malaria, Githeko told them, and the numbers could overwhelm the clinic's capacity. That was not yet the case. But a 3 percent infection rate indicated that there was unstable transmission in Ihwagi, Githeko explained.
On his laptop, he pointed out graphs from the Kisii district of western Kenya that showed weather extremes plotted over time. Epidemics regularly followed the extreme weather. With enough data, Githeko said, he could develop a model that would predict epidemics in the central Kenya highlands and that would help them prepare to counter the epidemic. But then Githeko cautioned the health workers. "This," he said, "is what could happen to you."
Excerpted from Changing Planet, Changing Health: How the Climate Crisis Threatens Our Health and What We Can Do about It (University of California Press, April 4, 2011)
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5 Comments
Add CommentThe stock photo is an Aedes mosquito, I think. (abdomen points down.)
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAccording to National Geographic, "The female Anopheles mosquito is the only insect capable of carrying the human malaria parasite." (abdomen points up.)
I shouldn't get so bugged by stock photos...
Mosquitoes do not depend on climate change rather on weather.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisEnough rainfall produces a swarm condition where larvae breed. Of course, a warm humid climate is exceptionally conducive than to a cold condition yet they could sustain below 26 degrees Farh. Siberia and Alaska have mosquitoes.
The differences here is Africa is a populated continent and with the banning of cheap DDT people living in mudhouse and living in the open died.
Millions and billions of dollars are provided to buy anti-malarial medicine and medical assistance but because of political and other form of corruptions many will not get the treatment needed, and die.
Wildstorm, you have that about right! The banning of DDT continues to kill people in Africa. They die every day in large numbers (thanks, in part, to the largely false, Chicken Little story by Rachel Carson – SILENT SPRING etc)! Now we have the newest Chicken Little story, Global Warming, renamed Climate Change, for more propaganda value, rousing public hysteria for political & financial gain. And, we are going to “control” CO2, (how about water vapor)! It is all very PC & unbelievable stupid! Sure, you can put the WEST into an economic tail spin, leaving the field open for the serious polluters like China (building a new coal fired plant every 6 months’ or so, & well on its way toward world domination). Yes, we can always beg China for rare earth metals - China has a strangle hold on the world’s supply; so, we can have China build the largely pathetic green energy devices, which no rational person looking at the facts can believe are ready for prime time (advanced solar panels etc need China’s rare earths – they have us by the proverbials in more ways then one).
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisBack to public hysteria over “Global Warming” (alias, Climate Change), given warming takes place, on other planets as with ours, likely due to solar cycles – not CO2, it won’t happen overnight (there well be hundreds of years to adjust), and, most importantly, our relatives, likely very distant future relatives – speaking Spanish no doubt, well all rejoice! You see, across the board, “Global Warming” is a blessing for nearly all forms of life! On the other hand, Global Cooling is a curse across the board for nearly all life that matters to us – including human! Yes, we do have reason to fear a killer like Global Cooling – past articles by Scientific American on Nuclear Winter type scenarios will put the fear in you. Not to forget, being hit by an asteroid, &/or a serious volcanic eruption – think of that movie a few years back called The Day After Tomorrow (the title refers to the fact that unlike the very very slow process of heating, cooling can be “the day after tomorrow”. And don’t count on NASA to come to the rescue; our Shuttles are going to be rusting in museums, if not scraped out to the Chinese (thanks to our declining footprint on this plant – by foolish design). Hysteria & delusions are part of the human experience, if not nature, in 1841 a book came out that describes examples from times past, it’s called, Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds. For something very current & on topic (if you can find it) see a DVD made by an English group, as I recall: “The Tragic Cost Of Global Warming Hysteria – not evil just wrong”, (a little balance for the flock of Chicken Littles).
R. Carlson
It would be good to do a web search....
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisStudents aim to combat malaria with smartphone software
Several sites are aware of this ap.
I see we have a Merchant of Doubt in our midst. The attack on Silent Spring by the heavily-funded anti-environmental movement is documented in the book Merchants of Doubt.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thishttp://www.merchantsofdoubt.org