Quiz
Malaria Fights Back
Drug-resistant strains of malaria, already one of the world’s major killers, are spreading steadily across the globe. The deadly strains have established themselves in South East Asia and South America, and have recently begun to spread across India and Africa. Formerly under control in many areas, the disease now threatens two billion people living in more than 100 countries. Estimates suggest that there are now more than 350 million cases of malaria a year - a total four times the level of the early 1970s. In Africa alone the disease kills one million children each year.
Several factors are responsible for this disturbing development. Spreading world poverty has deprived nations of funds for sanitation, so that many health projects have been stopped, while increased movements of migrant workers and tourists have carried infections more rapidly from one country to another. At the same time, the overuse of drugs, especially antibiotics, has led to the establishment of resistant strains of diseases.
As well as this, hopes that genetic engineers might soon develop the world’s first malaria vaccine, a long-sought goal, have been questioned recently by several scientists. “There are so many strains of malaria parasite,” said one scientist, “and each is able to alter its chemical surface and trick its way past the body’s defences. We’d need a remarkable vaccine to cope with that.” However, a malaria vaccine is now undergoing human trials and may be available for use if proved successful.
One of the most effective anti-malaria drugs proved to be cloroquine. Unfortunately it was widely overprescribed, and resistant strains of malaria were first reported during the Vietnam war. By 1980, these strains had taken root in South East Asia and the northern parts of South America.
In these regions, doctors have been left with only two malaria drugs. One is quinine, which is effective but expensive, and toxic if over-administered. The other is mefloquine, newly-developed, very effective but again is not properly tested in the field.
The solution lies in proper health care and mosquito control and above all personal protection against the mosquito. Unfortunately that needs money, which is simply not freely available in developing countries at present. There is also a serious shortage of expert medical advice. The malaria campaigns of the 1960s not only got rid of malaria, they got rid of the need for malariologists. Now malaria is back but not the malariologists.
Several factors are responsible for this disturbing development. Spreading world poverty has deprived nations of funds for sanitation, so that many health projects have been stopped, while increased movements of migrant workers and tourists have carried infections more rapidly from one country to another. At the same time, the overuse of drugs, especially antibiotics, has led to the establishment of resistant strains of diseases.
As well as this, hopes that genetic engineers might soon develop the world’s first malaria vaccine, a long-sought goal, have been questioned recently by several scientists. “There are so many strains of malaria parasite,” said one scientist, “and each is able to alter its chemical surface and trick its way past the body’s defences. We’d need a remarkable vaccine to cope with that.” However, a malaria vaccine is now undergoing human trials and may be available for use if proved successful.
One of the most effective anti-malaria drugs proved to be cloroquine. Unfortunately it was widely overprescribed, and resistant strains of malaria were first reported during the Vietnam war. By 1980, these strains had taken root in South East Asia and the northern parts of South America.
In these regions, doctors have been left with only two malaria drugs. One is quinine, which is effective but expensive, and toxic if over-administered. The other is mefloquine, newly-developed, very effective but again is not properly tested in the field.
The solution lies in proper health care and mosquito control and above all personal protection against the mosquito. Unfortunately that needs money, which is simply not freely available in developing countries at present. There is also a serious shortage of expert medical advice. The malaria campaigns of the 1960s not only got rid of malaria, they got rid of the need for malariologists. Now malaria is back but not the malariologists.