Curing Malaria

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QUESTION

What is needed to cure malaria?

ANSWER

Malaria is usually cured through treatment with an anti-malarial drug. The World Health Organization recommends use of an ACT (artemisinin-based combination therapy, such as Coartem) as first-line treatment for all non-complicated (i.e. not severe) malaria, and especially P. falciparum malaria (which in most places is resistance to chloroquine, and also to mefloquine in some locations). For complicated, severe malaria, or in cases where the patient is unable to take medication orally, the recommended treatment is intravenous quinine.

ARCEVA for malaria

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QUESTION:

Is ARCEVA a good vaccine for malaria?

ANSWER:

ARCEVA isn’t a vaccine for malaria, but it is a brand name of one type of medication used to treat the disease. It belongs to the group of drugs called artemisinin-based combination therapies (ACTs), which are recommended by the World Health Organisation to treat uncomplicated malaria caused by Plasmodium falciparum, the most dangerous form of malaria. ARCEVA specifically contains artemether combined with lumefantrine. It is very important to know that there is no effective vaccine against malaria that is currently available; many scientists and researchers are vigorously hunting for such a vaccine, knowing that this would radically decrease the number of cases of malaria worldwide.

Dengue Fever

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QUESTION:

Hello, I work with an NGO . We work in the rural areas. Please give me idea about dengue. Thnx

ANSWER:

Hi there, I’m afraid that I can’t really help you without knowing where you are located! Also, this forum is generally dedicated to questions about malaria, and so maybe I could recommend you look at the World Health Organisation pages regarding dengue fever for more information.

Certainly there are some very interesting data regarding the possible relationship between chloroquine resistance in malaria (and thus the reduction in prescribing it for malaria treatment) and the increase in incidence of dengue in many areas, but that’s a whole different story!

Scientists Target Mosquito-Borne Illness

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Of all the disease-spreading insects in the world, the mosquito poses the greatest menace, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).  As if to underscore that threat, two mosquito-borne viral diseases have begun to spread well beyond their points of origin.  One is dengue fever, a potentially deadly illness, and the other is chikungunya, a debilitating and painful disease from which most people can recover. There are no vaccines to prevent these diseases.  But researchers are working hard to develop vaccines against dengue fever and chikungunya, and to control the mosquitoes that spread them.

Scientists have identified at least 3,000 different species of mosquitoes throughout the world. The Asian tiger mosquito is one that bites during the day.

The tiger mosquito’s bite is more than annoying. It’s responsible for infecting 20 million people a year with dengue fever, a flu-like illness that can result in hemorrhagic fever, shock syndrome, and even death.

“It’s almost completely spread throughout the tropics and subtropics throughout the world,” said Weaver.

Scott Weaver at the University of Texas Medical Branch confirms what other scientists are seeing, mosquitoes that can transmit dengue fever have spread though India, Southeast Asia and Latin America and are finding their way around the world. There were more than 12 confirmed cases this year in Florida, in the southeastern United States.

The tiger mosquito can also spread chikungunya, a debilitating disease that causes extreme joint pain and fever. The illness is spread as well by an African mosquito, which is also expanding its range.  Professor Laura Harrington is an insect specialist at Cornell University. She says it’s not just the mosquitoes’ range that’s changing:

“We’re also seeing changes, particularly with the viruses; we’re seeing changes in their genetic material which often can lead to increased virulence,” Harrington noted.

On top of that, mosquitoes can arrive in new destinations aboard planes and in cars.

“It’s a virus that has the ability to travel on airplanes and in infected people very readily,” Weaver added.

Weaver is working on a vaccine for chikungunya that has successfully protected lab mice from getting the virus. At Cornell, Harrington is working to make the male mosquito infertile.

“The idea is that these modified males that don’t take a blood meal could be released, mate with the wild females, the females wouldn’t reproduce, they wouldn’t take a blood meal, and the population would be eliminated or reduced,” Harrington explained.

Both scientists are concerned that if a way to control the spread of chikungunya and dengue fever is not found soon, both diseases will become established in the United States. Harrington says that techniques that prove successful against these illnesses might also be used to break the cycle of other mosquito-borne diseases, including malaria.

Source: VOA