Malaria fact file

davidd submitted, created time 10 months 1 week (www.nature.com)

How many people contract malaria? Which places are hardest hit? Has incidence or mortality been cut much in the past decades? Which has been more successful: prevention or treatment? How do you prevent malaria infections? What about making genetically modified mosquitoes that can't carry the disease?

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WHO reports that anti-malaria efforts are working

Darkfrog submitted, created time 11 months 1 day (www.sciam.com)

A combination of nets and spraying has been connected to significantly reduced malaria deaths in developing countries. I thought everyone could use some good news.

1 comment | Blog It | Email It | Keywords: developing countries developing nations malaria plasmodium vivax parasites malaria prevention malaria parasite

Using work done to rapidly introduce a transgenic element in fruit flies, researchers hope to cure mosquitoes—and humans—of malaria.

fiona submitted, created time 1 year 9 months (www.sciam.com)

"By appropriating a genetic mechanism used by the common flour beetle—a pest that can stowaway in cereal boxes bound for kitchen cabinets and pantries—Caltech researchers helped a transgenic fruit fly take over a population. The work, if replicated in malaria-resistant mosquitoes, could help battle the debilitating parasitic disease that kills between 700,000 and 2.7 million people annually, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "

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Insecticide-Treated Nets for the Prevention of Malaria in Pregnancy

cappuccion submitted, created time 1 year 9 months (medicine.plosjournals.org)

Malaria is one of the world's most important killer diseases. Pregnant women and their unborn babies are also at high risk. Women who have malaria become extremely weak because of anemia, they are more likely to miscarry, and their babies have low birth weights. It seems logical that pregnant women should be encouraged to sleep under ITNs, and this is recommended by the World Health Organization and other authorities. But there is a lack of clear evidence to show whether women who sleep under ITNs actually suffer less from malaria and anemia, and what the implications are for their babies

Submit comment | Blog It | Email It | Keywords: malaria prevention insecticide-treated bednets (ITNs)