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A new development in malaria:
“Plasmodium vivax, the world’s most common malara parasite, now infects people previously considered to be resistant.”
Peter Zimmerman from Case Western Reserve University school of medicine spoke at the AAAS meeting in Washington on February 19th.
“So, red blood cells of most African people do not express the Duffy blood-group protein. Now, the Duffy blood-group protein is essentially necessary for Plasmodium vivax to get into the red cell. Duffy-negative Africans have been considered to be resistant to Plasmodium vivax.”
Zimmerman studied Malagasy populations on Madagascar. He found that 10 percent of Duffy-negative subjects were in fact infected with Plasmodium vivax.
“So we’ve shown that Plasmodium vivax has cleared Duffy negativity. If Plasmodium vivax is evolving to learn how to infect the Duffy-negative red cell, then a large continent of people suddenly becomes susceptible to a new form of malaria.”
—Steve Mirsky
[The above text is an exact transcript of this podcast.]
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2 Comments
Add CommentMalaria is the most miserable experience I've ever been through. The headache was like a particularly vicious migraine that lasted for ten straight days, accompanied by a really high fever that made me have the most vile and repulsive nightmares that years later simply recalling them makes me feel nausea and revulsion, though I've talked to a number of people who say Dengue Fever is even worse.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI can not play the 60-second podcasts. I only see the word "Detenido" (stop) in my left down side of the screen. I wonder if it has to do with my computer or with the site.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI´m a very often user of this site for practicing my English reading and pronunciation.
Thank you for your reply.
Adrian