It only requires one broken link to break the mosquito-to-human-to-mosquito cycle of malaria transmission. "Imagine if we could cure the mosquito of malaria ," said George Dimopoulos, an associate professor of molecular microbiology and immunology at the Johns Hopkins Malaria Research Institute (JHRMI), at Thursday's summit....[More]
BUILDING A BETTER MOSQUITO
It only requires one broken link to break the mosquito-to-human-to-mosquito cycle of malaria transmission. "Imagine if we could cure the mosquito of malaria," said George Dimopoulos, an associate professor of molecular microbiology and immunology at the Johns Hopkins Malaria Research Institute (JHRMI), at Thursday's summit. Researchers have been working for years to find the right combination of genes to make the mosquitoes bad hosts for the parasite. Some have been trying to change the bacteria that reside in the insect's stomach to kill the invader. Others, including Dimopoulos, are working to use the mosquitoes' own immune system to resist the parasite. They have found one pathway, in particular, that would prevent the development of the protozoan.
Genetically modified mosquitoes won't be taking over the world any time soon, though. Dimopoulos noted that, "the idea is not to replace an existing population…[but] to spread genes." These so-called genetic drive-system insects are far from ready for release. "At this time it's really difficult to predict if there would be any side effects" of this genetic tinkering, he said, but later generations of lab insects might make it out for field testing.
Others, however, argue that like other blockers—such as pesticides or drugs—genetically modified mosquitoes might only serve to make the disease stronger. The transgenic Anopheles gambiae mosquito (pictured) has been made to express via red fluorescence a protein in its eyes that can spread Plasmodium, the parasite responsible for malaria.
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JASON L RASGON/JOHNS HOPKINS MALARIA RESEARCH INSTITUTE
SPIT TEST
Testing for malaria has long required a blood sample, which necessitates not only trained medical personnel and sanitary equipment, but also people who are willing to have their blood drawn....[More]
SPIT TEST
Testing for malaria has long required a blood sample, which necessitates not only trained medical personnel and sanitary equipment, but also people who are willing to have their blood drawn. "There's obviously a problem with the method we're using," Sungano Mharakurwa, scientific director of the Malaria Institute at Macha (MIAM) in Zambia, said at the summit. Testing is even tougher in communities where there is suspicion of health workers or a taboo against taking blood, he noted.
Mharakurwa is part of a team that is working to create a saliva-based test for malaria. Researchers have found that they can use genetic and antigen tests to find the infection in saliva. Mharakurwa hopes to eventually decentralize testing and train lay people locally—even mothers who could test their families—to collect samples during the off-season (when mosquitoes are dormant). By testing and treating those who are carriers off-season, fewer people will present infected blood for mosquitoes to carry when the insects emerge.
An easy and painless saliva test would also help increase the amount of screening in people who don't present symptoms of the illness. "We need screening for asymptomatic carriers," he said. A boy (pictured) gives blood for a malaria test in an Ethiopian village.
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BONNIE GILLESPIE/VOICES FOR A MALARIA FREE FUTURE/JH CENTER FOR COMMUNICATIONS PROGRAMS
VACCINE TRIALS
Malaria, which has many strains across the globe, has proved a difficult target for vaccines. Early trials in the 1980s and 1990s of the vaccine SPf66 saw diminishing returns, and other candidates are in testing....[More]
VACCINE TRIALS
Malaria, which has many strains across the globe, has proved a difficult target for vaccines. Early trials in the 1980s and 1990s of the vaccine SPf66 saw diminishing returns, and other candidates are in testing.
Still, an effective vaccine for malaria could provide a simple eradication strategy, and one vaccine has just entered phase III clinical trials. RTS,S/AS01, made by GlaxoSmithKline and part of the nonprofit PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative, is now being tested in seven African countries and has already enrolled 5,000 children. Research on RTS,S began some 20 years ago in Belgium, and early testing was conducted in the U.S. in the 1990s. RTS,S works by inducing an antibody response and is being packaged with a hepatitis B antigen in hopes of protecting individuals from both infections. If the phase III trial goes according to plan the vaccine could be ready for regulatory approval in three years, which means shots could start going out before 2014. Pictured here is the first child to be vaccinated in the phase III RTS,S trials, photographed in Tanzania.
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DAVE POLAND/PATH MALARIA VACCINE INITIATIVE
NET GAINS
Insecticide-treated bed nets currently are one of the most effective weapons in the war on malaria because they are physical barriers, rather than a biological or chemical obstacle that mosquitoes can mutate to overcome (short of shrinking to penetrate the weave)....[More]
NET GAINS
Insecticide-treated bed nets currently are one of the most effective weapons in the war on malaria because they are physical barriers, rather than a biological or chemical obstacle that mosquitoes can mutate to overcome (short of shrinking to penetrate the weave). Years of free bed-net distribution have protected many in Africa, but still haven't gotten everyone covered.
A study published in April in Malaria Journal found that "marked inequity persists with the poorest households still experiencing the highest risk of malaria and the lowest insecticide-treated bed net coverage." Increasing free distribution promises to reach more families but it also "risks damaging what is otherwise an effective commercial market."
With an ever-present demand, the bed-net market could become a local economic booster. The cost of producing and distributing a net rated to last five years and likely to protect two sleeping children is about $10, according to an August 2009 article in Scientific American by Jeffrey Sachs, director of The Earth Institute and a professor of sustainable development and of health policy and management at Columbia University in New York City.
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P SKOV VESTERGAARD FRANDSEN/JH CENTER FOR COMMUNICATIONS PROGRAMS
MAPPING A MOVING TARGET
Satellite data is now being tapped to track a number of vector-borne diseases , such as avian flu and rodent-spread hantavirus. And malaria researchers have put it to work to keep track of Plasmodium -carrying mosquitoes now, too....[More]
MAPPING A MOVING TARGET
Satellite data is now being tapped to track a number of vector-borne diseases, such as avian flu and rodent-spread hantavirus. And malaria researchers have put it to work to keep track of Plasmodium-carrying mosquitoes now, too. As Gregory Glass of Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health joked at the summit about how he doesn't have clearance to use satellites that would allow him to see the mosquitoes (or small puddles that they breed in), the data he does get, however, is enough to help map ideal mosquito-breeding conditions.
"The ultimate goal is to identify when and where people are at risk for the disease," he said. By studying various regions and analyzing data about habitat, water, mosquitoes, infection rates, etcetera, his group has developed models to predict the locales where human infection is most likely to occur.
Given the limited resources (for prevention and treatment of malaria), such satellite mapping is helpful in pinpointing the populations at highest risk. This image, from the NASA Earth Observatory, shows extensive flooding in Kenya, which could prime the area for outbreaks of the mosquito-borne disease.
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NASA
YES! Send me a free issue of Scientific American with no obligation to continue the subscription. If I like it, I will be billed for the one-year subscription.
i work in the indoor residual spraying field, and soccerdad, i and my colleagues have no interest in advocacy by rude and ignorant folks like you. now read and learn:
1- some IDIOT did not write a book. it was a scientist. not one, many. 2- DDT is only one of many insecticides, not all dangerous organochlorines like DDT. 3- some mosquitoes are resistant to DDT due to massive overuse in agriculture. so DDT not always effective 4- same overuse caused and causes serious health effects on humans, cattle, and environment
Malaria was subdued by the 1970's for a reason - DDT. This "scientist" misrepresented her own work in Silent Spring. Her main argument against DDT - thinning of eggshells - has not been demonstrated at the levels the birds are actually exposed to. The banning of DDT is a politcal decision with real consequences to the 1 million or so people killed each year by malaria. Why remove a tool from the box for no reason.
There are none so blind as those who will not see.
Sungano Mharakurwa, scientific director of MIAM, for one, is "optimistic that one day our institute will be obsolete."
Let me hasten the process. Using simple chemisrtry Jim Humble discovered that 15 drops of a 28% solution of Sodium Chlorite (NaClO2) mixed with one teaspoon of pure lemon or lime juice or 5% pure unfiltered apple cider vinegar, turns into Chlorine Dioxide after waiting for three minutes. This can then be added to four ounces of water or pure unfiltered apple juice (without added vitamin C) and then drunk. This is repeated after one hour. Working in Africa and with the cooperation of health officials, before and after blood tests determined the complete eradication of the Malaria parasite from Malaria sufferers. It worked on other pathogens as well including microbes and viruses. And, it did no harm to the person or to healthy cells and simbiotic organisms of the body. The WHO, CDC, NIH and other such bodies have worked to suppress these findings. Why? Can you say money? How about control? How about the stated goal of some to eliminate "useless eaters" from the planet?
"Useless eaters" are their words, was it then Republican Adviser Henry Kissinger's? Best Answer - Chosen by Asker Although the term "useless eaters" began sometime after Malthus propagated his theories of overpopulation, this article is the thing that the Kissinger quote is drawn from. I doubt that the actual words were said, but the sentiment is the same. http://www.scribd.com/doc/7423676/NSSM-2& Google the term for yourself. I know Cass Sunstein and others in the Obama Administration tend to agree.
I smelled hoax at the first when H1N1 came on the scene. Look at what is going on in the Ukraine. Officials say that it is H1N1 but others are saying it is a recombined mix produced by Baxter BioPharma Solutions, Inc from their laboratories in Ukraine. Studies of their vaccine show it to be bioweapon disquised as a vaccine. Watch this YouTube video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xlvfj-NOg0s&feature=player_embedded "Baxter's Ukraine Pneumonic Plague Virus is a BIOWEAPON". While you are there look at the other videos posted there.
In 1999 the American Society of Analytical Chemists stated that Chlorine Dioxide was the most powerful pathogen killer known to man and that it was much safer than chlorine. It is approved by the FDA for use in municipal water systems.
Chlorine, flourine and bromine block the bodies use of iodine, a key component of the immune system
=# i was in zambia 1979-88,and busy in med wards, and saw no blackwaterfever in Mansa General, just one case of fatal cerebral,and no deaths due to malaria per se. #In india i have been at the most deadliest agencies forest areas. # MALARIA IS NOT A KILLER in the sense. It is its sequelae that kill. the anemia,the sickle, the bilharzia, the huge spleen, the malnutrition, the reject on empty stomach,the gross underdosage by pharmacists over the counter, the quacks,the self medications, and the wonderful pharma makers of chloroquine tabs in single and combi packs of CQ base 150, 250, 500, 750, tablets that confuse the patient most of the times.=and the cost...with taxes and w/o tax the Generic are so cheap// . In Vietnam 1969-74 when every one was shouting CQ resistance, in KonTum i showed that simple CQ given in 12 tabs, NOT 10 tabs, [1 tab = 150 base]for a 60kg, over 3+1 days, 4-2---2--2--2- gets the parasite down by 72 hrs. //the dose is easy that way, 1 teaspoon 5mil syrup is 50mg base;to calculate teaspoons 2,1..1..1..1..see?//total dose 30mg/kg per person///....and of course, a suppressive dose for a few months till the nutrition and anemia are corrected.... =I took CQ US double dose red coated tabs two per week all the 5 years i was there. When i missed two weeks i did get Falcip which i cured myself w just CQ 6 double tabs.# and why talk of DDT, when these alethrins are in use?# and whose funny idea medicated impregnated mosquito nets, which no one uses in the field?# and the altemethers which are now used by all quacks indiscriminately in the hamlets??? and even Doctors prescribing for out-patient use? # And remember there are Immune, semi immune and nonimmune entities right within the malaria belts??# THERE IS NO NEED TO PANIC. Go steady and with all senses. Recognize a thing called CLINICAL MALARIA which needs NO slides but just a general look over. and give the full dose course IF you treat for clinical malaria, or slide proved malaria. and treat the Enteric fevers which show up.# [mbbs/1950, india.]
6. pradhangeorge
in reply to Carlton2202:54 PM 2/22/10
my sungano forgot Cl is all over the body, Fl prevents Filaria, Bromine IV for skin,..Iodine for arthritis..............only use and misuse are the factors for you to advise field workers like me. and NaClO2 IS CHLORINE !!!!!...........and btw do you see all sites for malaria show the culex and not the beautiful anopheles?!!!
add:carlton22 /nov2009/ recipe looks like a grandmom's concoction. why didnt jimhiumble [1902?!] take simple 'ClO2'? why didnt he publish in like SciAm? While agreeing that world bodies and Big Pharmas suppress unprofitable suggestions and discoveries, why didnt carlton22 and all the PublicHealth people and the lab teks involved there trumpet the findings? and make a scientific paper and send to all the 28 world malaria bodies? HE MAY DO IT EVEN NOW NOW and save souls.
HIV : carlton22's ClO2 works on all path's.?. "It worked on other pathogens as well including microbes and viruses. And, it did no harm to the person or to healthy cells and symbiotic organisms of the body." .......oh , could be. but we semi-scientific field workers need published accepted evidence in vitro and in vivo..# in the 1940's and to 60's we used to give safely Iodine IV [ neutral Iodine, Calcium w Iodine, SodSal w Iodine]for arthralgias w wonderful results. Now why not IV halogens for to kill or maime the HIV in the blood and body tissues?
I'm a member of the pan-African African Media & Malaria Research Network (AMMREN), also working itself to extinction. I'm Country Coordinator, Nigeria. In March, we met in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania to evaluate the INDEPTH Effectiveness and Safety Studies of Antimalarials in Africa (INESS) Project. Working Outline: -The Malaria eradication agenda and role of research. The core issue is as Project Manager, Aziza Mwisongo, PhD, succinctly raised and answered, "Why do we join effectiveness and health systems studies together? Because efficacy under trial conditions is almost always greater than effectiveness in real-life health systems." Her top gear metaphor is "Driving with the brakes on: How interventions lose traction in health systems", with a case study from an ACT anti-malarial treatment scheme in Rufiji (in Tanzania) DSS (Decision support system) in 2006. It's a slope of a situation: Efficacy > Access > Diagnostics > Provider compliance > Patient adherence > Effectiveness (which showed a really poor quintile of 16%) There are sore thumbs showing up strongly. Malaria is Africa's greatest burden, but the least research into its eradication is taking place on the Continent. AMMREN is convinced an integral component of its resolution is to train and equip African journalists to better tell the African malaria Story. Dr. Mwisongo asks, "What does this mean?" Simple: "Presently more traction can be gained by removing health system bottlenecks than by improving the efficacy of new drugs." The Goal is to go: From Efficacy to Effectiveness. Efficacy: therapeutic effect (clinical and parasitological cure rate) of an intervention as determined in Phase III clinical trials or other studies when the intervention is provided by a researcher-driven process. Effectiveness: the ultimate population effect of the intervention as determined in uncontrolled Phase IV trials and studies (post-marketing risks, benefits, and indications for optimal use) where the intervention is wholly provided by a non-researcher driven process in real world situations. For this to happen, journalists -- who are MEDIAting Change -- must learn grassroots audience engagement techniques; any change cannot happen without a cooperative populace. AMMREN seeks support to run a project: Statistical Investigation Into Extant Malaria Knowledge, Attitudes And Beliefs In 10 African Countries Aim: To Deduce Change Patterns over a 3-Year Period, for Constructing an Aggregate Picture of the Effectiveness of Existing Malaria Control and Management Regimens. www.ammren.org
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9 Comments
Add CommentThere's actually a fairly easy way to keep mosquitos down - DDT. It worked well until some idiot wrote a book full of lies about it.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisi work in the indoor residual spraying field, and soccerdad, i and my colleagues have no interest in advocacy by rude and ignorant folks like you. now read and learn:
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this1- some IDIOT did not write a book. it was a scientist. not one, many.
2- DDT is only one of many insecticides, not all dangerous organochlorines like DDT.
3- some mosquitoes are resistant to DDT due to massive overuse in agriculture. so DDT not always effective
4- same overuse caused and causes serious health effects on humans, cattle, and environment
Malaria was subdued by the 1970's for a reason - DDT. This "scientist" misrepresented her own work in Silent Spring. Her main argument against DDT - thinning of eggshells - has not been demonstrated at the levels the birds are actually exposed to. The banning of DDT is a politcal decision with real consequences to the 1 million or so people killed each year by malaria. Why remove a tool from the box for no reason.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThere are none so blind as those who will not see.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisSungano Mharakurwa, scientific director of MIAM, for one, is "optimistic that one day our institute will be obsolete."
Let me hasten the process. Using simple chemisrtry Jim Humble discovered that 15 drops of a 28% solution of Sodium Chlorite (NaClO2) mixed with one teaspoon of pure lemon or lime juice or 5% pure unfiltered apple cider vinegar, turns into Chlorine Dioxide after waiting for three minutes. This can then be added to four ounces of water or pure unfiltered apple juice (without added vitamin C) and then drunk. This is repeated after one hour. Working in Africa and with the cooperation of health officials, before and after blood tests determined the complete eradication of the Malaria parasite from Malaria sufferers. It worked on other pathogens as well including microbes and viruses. And, it did no harm to the person or to healthy cells and simbiotic organisms of the body. The WHO, CDC, NIH and other such bodies have worked to suppress these findings. Why? Can you say money? How about control? How about the stated goal of some to eliminate "useless eaters" from the planet?
"Useless eaters" are their words, was it then Republican Adviser Henry Kissinger's? Best Answer - Chosen by Asker
Although the term "useless eaters" began sometime after Malthus propagated his theories of overpopulation, this article is the thing that the Kissinger quote is drawn from. I doubt that the actual words were said, but the sentiment is the same. http://www.scribd.com/doc/7423676/NSSM-2&
Google the term for yourself. I know Cass Sunstein and others in the Obama Administration tend to agree.
I smelled hoax at the first when H1N1 came on the scene. Look at what is going on in the Ukraine. Officials say that it is H1N1 but others are saying it is a recombined mix produced by Baxter BioPharma Solutions, Inc from their laboratories in Ukraine. Studies of their vaccine show it to be bioweapon disquised as a vaccine. Watch this YouTube video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xlvfj-NOg0s&feature=player_embedded "Baxter's Ukraine Pneumonic Plague Virus is a BIOWEAPON". While you are there look at the other videos posted there.
In 1999 the American Society of Analytical Chemists stated that Chlorine Dioxide was the most powerful pathogen killer known to man and that it was much safer than chlorine. It is approved by the FDA for use in municipal water systems.
Chlorine, flourine and bromine block the bodies use of iodine, a key component of the immune system
=# i was in zambia 1979-88,and busy in med wards, and saw no blackwaterfever in Mansa General, just one case of fatal cerebral,and no deaths due to malaria per se. #In india i have been at the most deadliest agencies forest areas. # MALARIA IS NOT A KILLER in the sense. It is its sequelae that kill. the anemia,the sickle, the bilharzia, the huge spleen, the malnutrition, the reject on empty stomach,the gross underdosage by pharmacists over the counter, the quacks,the self medications, and the wonderful pharma makers of chloroquine tabs in single and combi packs of CQ base 150, 250, 500, 750, tablets that confuse the patient most of the times.=and the cost...with taxes and w/o tax the Generic are so cheap// . In Vietnam 1969-74 when every one was shouting CQ resistance, in KonTum i showed that simple CQ given in 12 tabs, NOT 10 tabs, [1 tab = 150 base]for a 60kg, over 3+1 days, 4-2---2--2--2- gets the parasite down by 72 hrs. //the dose is easy that way, 1 teaspoon 5mil syrup is 50mg base;to calculate teaspoons 2,1..1..1..1..see?//total dose 30mg/kg per person///....and of course, a suppressive dose for a few months till the nutrition and anemia are corrected.... =I took CQ US double dose red coated tabs two per week all the 5 years i was there. When i missed two weeks i did get Falcip which i cured myself w just CQ 6 double tabs.# and why talk of DDT, when these alethrins are in use?# and whose funny idea medicated impregnated mosquito nets, which no one uses in the field?# and the altemethers which are now used by all quacks indiscriminately in the hamlets??? and even Doctors prescribing for out-patient use? # And remember there are Immune, semi immune and nonimmune entities right within the malaria belts??# THERE IS NO NEED TO PANIC. Go steady and with all senses. Recognize a thing called CLINICAL MALARIA which needs NO slides but just a general look over. and give the full dose course IF you treat for clinical malaria, or slide proved malaria. and treat the Enteric fevers which show up.# [mbbs/1950, india.]
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thismy sungano forgot Cl is all over the body, Fl prevents Filaria, Bromine IV for skin,..Iodine for arthritis..............only use and misuse are the factors for you to advise field workers like me. and NaClO2 IS CHLORINE !!!!!...........and btw do you see all sites for malaria show the culex and not the beautiful anopheles?!!!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisadd:carlton22 /nov2009/ recipe looks like a grandmom's concoction. why didnt jimhiumble [1902?!] take simple 'ClO2'? why didnt he publish in like SciAm? While agreeing that world bodies and Big Pharmas suppress unprofitable suggestions and discoveries, why didnt carlton22 and all the PublicHealth people and the lab teks involved there trumpet the findings? and make a scientific paper and send to all the 28 world malaria bodies? HE MAY DO IT EVEN NOW NOW and save souls.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisHIV : carlton22's ClO2 works on all path's.?. "It worked on other pathogens as well including microbes and viruses. And, it did no harm to the person or to healthy cells and symbiotic organisms of the body." .......oh , could be. but we semi-scientific field workers need published accepted evidence in vitro and in vivo..# in the 1940's and to 60's we used to give safely Iodine IV [ neutral Iodine, Calcium w Iodine, SodSal w Iodine]for arthralgias w wonderful results. Now why not IV halogens for to kill or maime the HIV in the blood and body tissues?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI'm a member of the pan-African African Media & Malaria Research Network (AMMREN), also working itself to extinction. I'm Country Coordinator, Nigeria. In March, we met in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania to evaluate the INDEPTH Effectiveness and Safety Studies of Antimalarials in Africa (INESS) Project. Working Outline: -The Malaria eradication agenda and role of research.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe core issue is as Project Manager, Aziza Mwisongo, PhD, succinctly raised and answered, "Why do we join effectiveness and health systems studies together? Because efficacy under trial conditions is almost always greater than effectiveness in real-life health systems." Her top gear metaphor is "Driving with the brakes on: How interventions lose traction in health systems", with a case study from an ACT anti-malarial treatment scheme in Rufiji (in Tanzania) DSS (Decision support system) in 2006. It's a slope of a situation: Efficacy > Access > Diagnostics > Provider compliance > Patient adherence > Effectiveness (which showed a really poor quintile of 16%)
There are sore thumbs showing up strongly.
Malaria is Africa's greatest burden, but the least research into its eradication is taking place on the Continent. AMMREN is convinced an integral component of its resolution is to train and equip African journalists to better tell the African malaria Story.
Dr. Mwisongo asks, "What does this mean?" Simple: "Presently more traction can be gained by removing health system bottlenecks than by improving the efficacy of new drugs." The Goal is to go: From Efficacy to Effectiveness.
Efficacy: therapeutic effect (clinical and parasitological cure rate) of an intervention as determined in Phase III clinical trials or other studies when the intervention is provided by a researcher-driven process.
Effectiveness: the ultimate population effect of the intervention as determined in uncontrolled Phase IV trials and studies (post-marketing risks, benefits, and indications for optimal use) where the intervention is wholly provided by a non-researcher driven process in real world situations.
For this to happen, journalists -- who are MEDIAting Change -- must learn grassroots audience engagement techniques; any change cannot happen without a cooperative populace. AMMREN seeks support to run a project: Statistical Investigation Into Extant Malaria Knowledge, Attitudes And Beliefs In 10 African Countries
Aim: To Deduce Change Patterns over a 3-Year Period, for Constructing an Aggregate Picture of the Effectiveness of Existing Malaria Control and Management Regimens. www.ammren.org