Malaria

[Lisbeth]

I read that article too! Very interesting

They have a vaccine too now, but only for children and it only works in something like 60% of the cases. Going in the right direction though

[Richprins]

[Flutterby]

Interesting PJL!

[Lisbeth]

Malaria can be eradicated by 2050 with funding, innovation - Report

11.09.2019 | Reuters

Malaria can be eradicated within a generation, global health experts have said.

In a major report on Sunday, 41 specialists said a future free of malaria – one of the world’s oldest and deadliest diseases – can be achieved as early as 2050.

This contradicted the conclusions last month of a malaria review by the World Health Organization and the experts urged the WHO not to shy away from this “goal of epic proportions”.

To meet that target, however, governments, scientists and public health leaders need to inject more money and innovation into fighting the disease and the mosquitoes that carry it, the report said — something that will require “ambition, commitment and partnership like never before”.

“For too long, malaria eradication has been a distant dream, but now we have evidence that malaria can and should be eradicated by 2050,” said Richard Feachem, director of the Global Health Group at the University of California, San Francisco, who co-chaired a review of malaria eradication commissioned by The Lancet medical journal.

“We must … challenge ourselves with ambitious targets and commit to the bold action needed to meet them,” he added.

The Lancet Commission’s view comes a few weeks after the WHO published its own report on whether malaria can be wiped out, concluding that eradication cannot be achieved soon, and that setting unrealistic goals with unknown costs and endpoints could lead to “frustration and backlashes”.

In contrast to the Lancet Commission, the WHO report said the priority now should be to lay the groundwork for future eradication “while guarding against the risk of failure that would lead to the waste of huge sums of money (and) frustrate all those involved.”

The Lancet report, however, said that rather than slogging on with steadily reducing malaria cases — all the time under the threat of resurgence — global health authorities could “instead choose to commit to a time-bound eradication goal that will bring purpose, urgency and dedication” to the fight.

Malaria infected about 219 million people in 2017 and killed around 435,000 of them — the vast majority babies and children in the poorest parts of Africa. Due to ongoing transmission, half the world’s population is still at risk of contracting malaria, and globally, it kills a child every two minutes.

These figures are little changed from 2016, but global case numbers had previously fallen steadily from 239 million in 2010 to 214 million in 2015, and deaths from 607,000 to around 500,000 from 2010 to 2013.

Martin Edlund, head of the campaign group Malaria No More, said the world should do everything possible to eradicate the disease: “If we double down on ending malaria now, the world will reap massive social, humanitarian and economic benefits and save millions of people from needlessly dying from mosquito bites,” he said in a statement.

Winnie Mpanju-Shumbusho, a Tanzanian doctor who co-chaired The Lancet Commission, said malaria eradication was “a public health and equity imperative”.

To stamp out the disease by 2050, the report’s authors proposed three ways to speed up malaria’s decline.

Existing malaria-fighting tools such as bednets, medicines and insecticides should be used more smartly, it said, and new tools such as vaccines should be developed. Thirdly, governments in both malaria-affected and malaria-free countries need to boost investment by about $2 billion a year to accelerate progress.

[Lisbeth]

Heading to a region with malaria? Some simple steps to keep you safe

John Frean, University of the Witwatersrand | 2019



Avoiding mosquito bites is the most important preventive measure.

Avoidance to detection

A is for Awareness and Avoidance of malaria risk

Several factors influence your chance of getting malaria in a particular area. Understanding these can help you to avoid or least minimise the risk.

The first question to ask is: how much malaria normally occurs in the area, and when? The answer will depend on altitude and climate – generally the lower, warmer and more humid the place, the more suitable it is for malaria vectors, the Anopheles mosquitoes.

In southern Africa, most malaria is seasonal. It increases during warmer and wetter summer months (September to May in the southern hemisphere). The risk in winter is generally lower, but that doesn’t mean it’s absent.

Longer exposure, involving overnight stays, puts you at higher risk than brief visits, for example day trips to game reserves. Hiking and camping outdoors is riskier than staying in air-conditioned accommodation.

Some people are at higher risk for severe malaria and should ideally avoid malaria transmission areas altogether. These include pregnant women, babies and young children, people who’ve had their spleens removed and those with weak immune systems.

B is for mosquito bites – and avoiding them

Avoiding mosquito bites is the most important preventive measure. This is because the mosquito bite is what transmits the parasite. No bite, no transmission.

Contact between mosquitoes and people isn’t random. Mosquitoes actively seek people out. They have sensory organs that detect people’s warmth, exhaled carbon dioxide, and odours from sweat.

There are a number of ways to avoid mosquito bites. These include staying indoors between dusk and dawn and covering up bare skin when outside at night. (Mosquitoes find ankles particularly attractive.)

There are also a number of repellents and insecticides that can deter mosquitoes. Repellents should be applied to bare skin, and clothes can be treated. Other ways to avoid being bitten include burning mosquito coils or using heated insecticide mats in living and sleeping areas at night, and using insecticide-treated mosquito nets.

Using ceiling fans and air conditioners discourages mosquito activity indoors, likewise making sure screens on windows are closed and in good condition. Just because you don’t hear mosquitoes buzzing around doesn’t mean you are safe – the malaria mosquitoes fly silently.

C is for Chemoprophylaxis and Compliance

You should consult a health care practitioner with travel medicine experience well before travelling to an endemic malaria area. During this consultation, you can figure out whether you need chemoprophylaxis (medication to prevent infection) in addition to personal protection measures.

Several factors will influence this decision. These include the risk of contracting malaria (the area and type of accommodation, time of year, and duration of visit); personal factors such as age, current medication and existing illness; and medication options, their availability and price, adverse effects and resistance.

There are two type of medications used for malaria prophylaxis, they act at different life stages of the parasite in the body. Atovaquone-proguanil products stop infection early, soon after the mosquito bite. The second type (doxycycline, mefloquine and atovaquone-proguanil) treat a later stage of infection, but before the parasites can multiply enough to cause symptoms.

Whichever medication your doctor recommends, if any, it’s important to take it exactly as directed and to finish the course.

There’s a dangerous myth that chemoprophylaxis “masks” symptoms and makes malaria more difficult to diagnose. Prophylactic medications are highly effective if taken properly. But the infection may take longer to show if compliance is poor and doses are missed or prematurely stopped. It’s important to understand that no prophylactic regimen is 100% effective – but infection is still likely to be milder than if no prophylaxis was used.

D is for Detection

Sometimes precautions can’t protect you entirely. That’s when it becomes important to diagnose malaria as early as possible. If you get ill with flu-like symptoms such as headache, fever, chills, joint and muscle pains up to three months after returning from a malaria area, be sure to mention this to your health care providers.

A single negative test doesn’t rule out malaria, and tests should be repeated until either malaria is confirmed, or an alternative diagnosis is made. Occasionally, malaria is transmitted outside endemic areas by mosquitoes that have hitched rides in cars or taxis, and because there’s no travel history to alert doctors to the possibility of malaria, the diagnosis is often delayed, sometimes with fatal consequences. One clue to malaria here is a low platelet count. This is often picked up accidentally when tests are being done for a feverish illness with no obvious cause.

To wrap it up

A number of steps are key to ensuring a quick recovery. These are: reporting the illness early after travelling in a malaria area; prompt diagnosis; and, finally, early and effective treatment.

If any of these steps are delayed the chances of developing severe and complicated malaria are much higher – and the rate of survival substantially lower.

John Frean, Principal Pathologist, Centre for Emerging, Zoonotic and Parasitic Diseases, National Institute for Communicable Diseases and Wits Research Institute for Malaria, University of the Witwatersrand

[Richprins]

WATCH: World’s first malaria vaccine introduced in Africa
The vaccine will be tested in Kenya, Malawi and Ghana.
December 28, 2019

The World Health Organization (WHO) is planning to trial a malaria vaccine on 360 000 children on the African continent.

Watch the video below for more information:

https://lowvelder.co.za/519222/watch-wo ... ed-africa/

[Lisbeth]

Old news

[Lisbeth]

Which is the best mosquito repellent?

I have bought the prophylaxis, but better be double safe

I have written these two, but I don't remember where I have seen them mentioned: Natrapel 8 hour Insect Repellent, - RID Tropical Insect repellent –

[Richprins]

I just use Tabard stick on ankles...

[Lisbeth]

I have always used Tabard, but thought that there might be something new