High hopes for a real cure for malaria :-)

[Toddy]

http://www.uct.ac.za/print/dailynews/?id=8220

Researchers in South Africa have done some exceptional work on the problem and are now hopeful that human trials will prove that the cure they have developed is effective

cheers,
M

 

[Wook]

I was under the impression an effective cure in the form of Jesuit's Bark (quinine) had been around since the 1600's.

Although this new drug does definitely sounds like it works much more quickly and more completely.

Malaria has proven to be a tough disease to eradicate. The WHO thought it would go the way of Smallpox, but it keeps adapting to the new drugs that come out.

 

[santaman2000]

I was under the impression an effective cure in the form of Jesuit's Bark (quinine) had been around since the 1600's....

No. Quinine and the newer drugs only relieve the syptoms until the end of an attack. Like asthma, another attack can occur later; and again, and again... Currently, once you have malaria, you have it for life. But unlike asthma, it doesn't need anything to trigger another attack.

 

[rik_uk3]

Great news, its a bloody awful bug to be infected with.

I've never had Malaria but take Gin and Tonic on a regular basis as a preventative.

 

[Retired Member southey]

If successful it will be amazing! though an immunisation would be better this would make a massive difference,

 

[Cyclingrelf]

I hope if it is successful that it is possible to manufacture at low cost so that those who need it most can be treated.

 

[santaman2000]

If successful it will be amazing! though an immunisation would be better this would make a massive difference,

I belive they are available, sort of. Don't the anti malaria preventatives work like the monthy pills I give my dogs to prevent Heartworm? They're a larvacide that kills the Heatworms as they hatch (having been transmitted to the dogs by mosqitos exactly like the malaria bug)

 

[Graveworm]

No. Quinine and the newer drugs only relieve the syptoms until the end of an attack.

Not sure where you get this from, Quinine and the various new drugs all do the same thing kill the parasites that are the disease, they don't work in all cases and don't work very quickly but they are not about symptom control. Some strains of malaria can re-occur but you don't "Have it for life". Prevention is better than cure but nothing is 100%.

 

[Toddy]

My Dad caught malaria in Egypt during the war. Even years later during my childhood, I saw this big strong capable man reduced to a shivering aching bedridden bundle of misery at times. Fortunately our Doctor himself had malaria (Chindits, Far East) and knew exactly how best to deal with things, was prepared to try the latest medicines/health regimes.
Over time the frequency of the attacks, and the duration, eased, and by the time he was elderly, they had more or less gone.

Supposing he had no access to modern healthcare, no NHS, no capable doctor prepared to do housecalls ? and lived where reinfection was constant. Like most of the world where malaria is rife, in fact.
My father's occasional miserable few days would have been an awful lot more serious

I really hope this new drug works. Especially for those whose children risk a life of repeated malarial misery.

cheers,
Toddy

 

[santaman2000]

Not sure where you get this from, Quinine and the various new drugs all do the same thing kill the parasites that are the disease, they don't work in all cases and don't work very quickly but they are not about symptom control. Some strains of malaria can re-occur but you don't "Have it for life". Prevention is better than cure but nothing is 100%.

I'm getting it from aquaintances in Milawi and others in Panama that actually have malaria.

 

[Dano]

Currently, once you have malaria, you have it for life.

I do not think that is accurate, sure some people may have it for life, I understand that in some cases the parasite can reside in the liver, but as I understand it treatment can cure the infection fully also

 

[Cyclingrelf]

I had a look at the World Health Organisation guidance http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs094/en/ Malaria is both curable and preventable. The reoccurrence of symptoms after the original bout is due to a dormant stage of the parasite living in the liver, but that can be cured too with special treatment.

 

[Bowlander]

Mozzies are on the increase apparently - they are loads around here this year.

Saw a docco about the increasing risk of malaria reaching the UK, looks like its a case of when, not if.

 

[udamiano]

Now that is a real positive outcome! although I never have had it, a couple of people I worked with over the years did get it, and it is not nice, and does flare up now and again after the initial infection.

 

[santaman2000]

Mozzies are on the increase apparently - they are loads around here this year.

Saw a docco about the increasing risk of malaria reaching the UK, looks like its a case of when, not if.

Large quanities of mozzies doesn'r mean malaria in and of itself. We have huge problems with mozzies (always have done) But I don't know of a single case of malaria being contracted in the continental US.

That said, there are loads of other diseases carried by them; both to humans and animals.

 

[Graveworm]

Lots of different kinds of mozzies and only a couple of species carry Malaria. None are native to Europe. It's easy to eradicate just expensive. It was rife in the US for example but as has been pointed out they are Malaria free now.

 

[santaman2000]

Lots of different kinds of mozzies and only a couple of species carry Malaria. None are native to Europe. It's easy to eradicate just expensive. It was rife in the US for example but as has been pointed out they are Malaria free now.

I don't recall hearing of malaria EVER being contracted here. Mosquitos were rife (and still are) But malaria was never present here to my knowledge. Not CONUS anyway. It was a problem in the CZ while digging the Panama Canal; in facr that's when and where they (namely Major Gorgas) first discovered it was carried by mosquitos and began the eradication program by eliminating or oiling standing water.

 

[Graveworm]

Until the 1950s Washington used to be a hazardous post for diplomats because of Malaria before it was eradicated. Many presidents caught it. It was far more widespread than that as well thousands of cases a year. It's why the centre for disease control was actually established. http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0707/feature1/text3.html

 

[santaman2000]

I'm reading it. It's there in black and white. But TBH I've never even heard anyone speak of a malaria case EVER contracted here and I grew up in the deep South. My grandparents generation never knew of any (or they never mentioned it if they did, and that seems unlikely as they spoke often of the flu epedemoc in 1917) That generation goes back to 1888.

The article mentions DDT being sprayed in homes. I don't know about that but I assume it was sprayed in most homes by the pesticide companies prior to being banned in the 1960s. We still have pesticide applied to most homes even now, but the emphasis is primarily on termites and roaches for home application. I do remember DDT was widely distributed by air over the entire area in the 1960s but primarily for fire ant control. The county still fogs neighborhoods for mosquitos in the Summer; unfortunately the current system is all but a joke.

To the best of my knowledge, even back when they used DDT it didn't have much impact on the mozzies. At least none that I could see at the time. We were rife with them then and we're rife with them now.

 

[troutman]

Very interesting, thanks for the link. Unfortunately it will be a long road to find any cure or preventative vaccine. Also ther is the issue of medicine distribution in Africa- afterall look how many people are going without clean water and contracting typhoid etc which has a vaccine already.
Further to this there is the nasty subject of HIV/AIDS- taking care of malaria is a start but its not the only problem in Africa.