Talk:Malaria

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Good article Malaria has been listed as one of the Natural sciences good articles under the good article criteria. If you can improve it further, please do. If it no longer meets these criteria, you can delist it, or ask for a reassessment.

Contents

[edit] The history chapter is one huge paragraph?

Unfortunately it seems I don't have edit rights?

Moved most of it to History of malaria. Tim Vickers (talk) 18:40, 28 April 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Article requires cleanup

The info in the article is correct, but it is a complex topic, and the subtopics do not seem to be in any coherent order. I don't have time to change this myself. I suggest (shameless plug) that my 'overview of malaria' (listed in the external links) has an organization of chapters that might also be used for this wikipedia article.Siwardio 2008 march 25

[edit] Book links

I am using the Amazon link temporarily until a nice list of further reading is developed. [User:Fredbauder]

I don't think we should endorse Amazon. Why not give a link to the Library of Congress catalog, Subject Malaria? AxelBoldt 18:10 Oct 8, 2002 (UTC)

[edit] Dutch provinces

I miss the statement in the entry that malaria was eradicated from the Dutch provinces North Holland and Zeeland in the 19th century. 62.195.88.154 21:21, 31 Dec 2003 (UTC)

[edit] UN vs. DDT

The section about buying mosquito nets from the UN sounds suspiciously like pro-UN propaganda. What about DDT? --Uncle Ed 21:53, 12 Mar 2004 (UTC)

I concur that the article fails to achieve NPOV on this issue. Am carving out a 'DDT controversy' section to deal with this. Adhib 17:39, 27 Jan 2005 (UTC)

[edit] User:134.226.1.136

User:134.226.1.136 seems to know a lot about malaria, and has added large amounts of virtually unreadable material to the article. Some of it seems to be a copyvio; there was suddenly a list of 30-40 links. I have reverted everything back to the 27 August version, as User:134.226.1.136's edits have so far been entirely unhelpful. He is invited to come back and work on the article in a more organised fashion (i.e. not saving every 5 minutes). JFW | T@lk 02:18, 12 Sep 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Check the numbers please.

Just checked with the WHO, while reading The Economist and the numbers are different from the ones presented in this article. Please check the link below to see for yourself:

WHO Malaria numbers

--Roman

[edit] Numbers

The number are slightly inaccurate. Malaria infects 300 million people per year and causes 1-3 million deaths per year. I'm new here. Should I just make this change in the article?

Yes, you should. More so if you can back your numbers and reference it. It's also a good idea to sign your talk entries. Do the shortcut and sign with four ~~~~. Alex.tan 04:27, 29 Apr 2005 (UTC)
Global burden of malaria. At the end of 2004, 107 countries and territories had areas at risk of malaria transmission. Some 3.2 billion people lived in areas at risk of malaria transmission. An estimated 350–500 million clinical malaria episodes occur annually; most of these are caused by infection with P. falciparum and P. vivax. Falciparum malaria causes more than 1 million deaths each year. It also contributes indirectly to many additional deaths, mainly in young children, through synergy with other infections and illnesses. World Malaria Report 2005 http://rbm.who.int/wmr2005/html/exsummary_en.htm Petersam 06:05, 2 Jun 2005 (UTC)
Also see Infectious disease for 2002 and 1993 data; 2003 had 1.3 million deaths, 1993 was 2 million deaths. Petersam 06:14, 2 Jun 2005 (UTC)


Whatever the number is, to say "infects 300 million per year" is not accurate because it's not known in most cases whether symptoms are caused by a new infection or an older dormant infection.
"The liver stage of the parasite can become dormant, and re-emerge after 1-18 months (in P. vivax / P. ovale). Recurrence in P. falciparum (in less than a year) and P. malariae (up to 50 years) is due to re-emergence of parasites living at very low levels in the blood." quote from
http://www.malaria.org.za/Malaria_Risk/General_Information/general_information.html
Because clinical symptoms can arise when the parasite reemerges from a previous infection, it is better to say "300 (or 500) million clinical episodes occur per year" just as it is worded on the WHO site. Clinical episodes can arise from new infection or a reemergence of an older infection that is dormant. Uren 17:05, 19 December 2006 (UTC)
The vast majority of cases are new infections ; relapses are seldom. Also 'clinical' is to easy to confuse with actually going to a clinic. Siwardio —Preceding comment was added at 14:12, 26 March 2008 (UTC)



loo —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.11.255.237 (talk) 15:29, 7 May 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Malaria and syphilis

I read somewhere that malaria was used to "cure" syphilis - the fever made the person so hot that the latter disease was cooked out (being very a non-technical description). Was this actually the case?

There is a discussion of this at Syphilis#Treatment. Julius Wagner-Jauregg won a Nobel prize for it. More detail here. --Arcadian 23:05, 8 December 2005 (UTC)
Yeah I had read somewhere that they used to infect someone with malaria to treat Syphilis. I don't know which one is worse though. I got infected with the clitter (malaria) while taking my high school at Othaya boys secondary school and it was not funny.
Someone added that there are around 50 PfEMP1 protein which is neat. Wondering whether its worth putting this quote right after that statement. It may be an over kill though
New forms come up, and the immune system beats them down again. Because of this a lot of people think you need five years of constant exposure to malaria in its different disguises to gain immunity. [1]
Now, what wikipedia article is completely silent on, is the mechanism of attacking/penetrating the cell. Enter Duffy-Binding Like (DBL) domain, according to this article.[2]. I did consider editing the wiki article to include this info, but thought I would get in trouble for introducing research work. Once the guys in that doman peer review it, it would be good to add it
In order to enter these cells, it first has to bind to the cell through protein interactions which take place on the surfaces of red blood cells and the parasite.

I just read on Dr. Henry Heimlich's, of the Heimlich Maneuver, that he's an advocate of the treatment of HIV(!!??) with malaria. I did a little research and that is called Malariotherapy (didn't know they use if for syphilis too). Unfortunately there's nothing here on wiki... Does anyone know anything more about malariotherapy? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Notconnectedtome (talk • contribs) 12:39, 8 May 2008 (UTC)

See the fourth paragraph of the history section. Tim Vickers (talk) 15:51, 8 May 2008 (UTC)

[edit] 'Simultaneous' or 'successive'?

From the article: "The classical description of waves of fever coming every three or four days arises from simultaneous waves of merozoites breaking out of red blood cells during the same day."

Seems more likely that this would be describing a 'successive' pattern of waves, rather than 'simultaneous', but I don't have direct knowledge of this. Can someone verify?

[edit] Re:'Simultaneous' or 'successive'?

I have a suggestion, how about rewriting it something like this: "...many merozoites simultaneously breaking out of red blood cells during the same day."

Mikiemike 21:56, 10 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Skewed

Imagine when someone in Africa who has been around malaria his whole life gets a free DVD of Wikipedia, and comes to this article. Instead of any coverage of what is going on in the places where malaria is most widespread, he has to read a section about "travellers to high-risk zones". I can just imagine his reaction. See if you can, too. — BRIAN0918 • 2005-10-24 14:38

[edit] Fred L. Soper

I am just a lay person in this area; but watching the current (week of 10/31/05) series on global health on PBS, I notice that Fred L. Soper played an important role in controlling malaria and other diseases. If a knowledgeable person were to contribute a sentence in the main article and an article on Soper himself, this could be a significant contribution to this article. Bill Jefferys 00:47, 4 November 2005 (UTC)

It's a good point and there is a stub for Fred Soper alone that could be expanded and linked to this article. I've forgotten most of what I knew about him, but will work on this and would like to get editors interested in his bio page too. Art desk 00:55, 1 February 2006 (UTC)

Also, malaria did not exist in England, it is a tropical disease. Maybe we should present the information diferently? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 137.86.166.230 (talk) 16:51, 3 April 2008 (UTC)

Malaria did exist in England in the past, see this article for example. Tim Vickers (talk) 17:16, 3 April 2008 (UTC)

[edit] The Future

I can't see anything in the article about it, but I'm dimly aware of research that's looked at the future prevalence of malaria given climate change (i.e. the return of malaria to the developed world). It's very far from my specialism, so I'd rather not add anything myself, but I think it'd be helpful if someone in the know could extend the article along this axis. Bit cheeky to ask, I know. --Plumbago 17:48, 20 December 2005 (UTC)

From what little I know of the issue (one assignment on one module at university), climate change is certainly predicted to affect malaria prevalence in all sorts of ways (higher prevalence in a wetter East Africa, for instance). I'm no longer all that up on this either, however, so I'll leave it to someone else as well. Procrastinator supreme 13:54, 19 May 2006 (UTC)

This may be helpful [3] --Dean1970 13:00, 13 June 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Reorganization

I've started reorganizing this article and related articles, which include Plasmodium, Plasmodium falciparum, Plasmodium vivax, Plasmodium ovale, and Plasmodium malariae. I've moved the details about the microscopic identification of each species to their respective pages, so that they have good descriptions of how they work. I also tried to make the terminology a little more accessible; it would be great if someone with medical training could check my work on that. I also broke up the "Travel to malarial areas" section, moving parts of it elsewhere in the article. Like User:Brian0918 noted above, this section made substantial assumptions that the reader is not a full-time resident of a malarial region. But it did have some good bits on how prophylactic drugs are used, so I rewrote and moved them. Instead, the article needs a discussion of the impacts, or burden, of malaria, which almost exclusively falls on people living in tropical countries. I've started that with text that was already here, and I'll expand it - I have some good sources for this. Finally, a history section would be good; Plasmodium falciparum has a very good beginning on this that I think is best moved here, if only because for much of the history, people knew it only as "malaria", not as as the name of the parasite that causes it. I'll do this soon. I may have messed up the referencing - I promise I'll fix it shortly, but I beg forgiveness if it takes a day or two. CDC (talk) 07:39, 12 February 2006 (UTC)


[edit] Problems Footnoting Henri Vial G25 / te3 in Drug Section

I added a new paragraph on the G25 line of drugs presently in development. What I didn't do is convert the external links to the very nice footnote format which has been used in that section previously. I left them as internal links out of fear that a novice attempt to change them to numbered footnotes which refer to external links in a list at the bottom of the article would foul up the existing numbers. I hope someone more skilled & experienced than I at wikifying will take a shot at it. The info is there, it's just not as pretty as it should be. -- Lisasmall 19:42, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

Thanks for your contribution! I'd been meaning to work on the referencing anyway, because as I noted above I broke it last week, so I just switched over to the new Meta:Cite.php citation format, which I think is substantially easier to maintain, especially as paragraphs get shuffled around. I also moved the paragraph to the "Treatment" section, to make the "Vaccines and other new research" section into just a "Vaccines" section, which I think is a much clearer format. CDC (talk) 22:56, 17 February 2006 (UTC)
I really appreciate the help, and I think you're right about shifting it up to "Treatment" -- I wasn't sure what to do there. -- Lisasmall 11:01, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Prognosis

I don't see anything about the prognosis for a malaria patient. Does treatment with anti-malarial drugs cure the disease, or just prevent outbreaks? How long does someone remain a carrier after being infected, and can they only infect mosquitoes during an outbreak? Do people in endemic regions develop immunity over time? Shadwstalkr 02:06, 13 April 2006 (UTC)

It's not a quotable source, but the professor of the class I am in stated that a cure can be achieved for plasmodium vivax or ovale requires treatment of the dormant liver forms. He stated it's typically Primaquine. Spread from a human is only to the mosquito. Depending on the causative bug, people can become carriers for 6months to 50+ years. Hope that helps some. BruceD270 13:29, 16 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] QBC MALARIA TEST

Lot of articles written on QBC MALARIA TEST and about the sensitivity. One can search and find lot of articles in favour. This fluorescent test which is done analysing 60ul of blood, by centrifuging the sample in a capillary tube coated with Acridine Orange is considered as the most sensitive test.

Why this test has not become popular outside India?

I don't know. Might have something to do with price. It certainly doesn't belong in the article in the way it was previously inserted without references or context. InvictaHOG 17:50, 13 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Lead section

Does anyone else feel that the lead section talks more about the effects of malaria than what it actually is? So far from the lead a reader can only tell that it's an infectious disease. I think it should be fixed, preferrably by an expert on the subject. -- Ynhockey (Talk) 22:25, 29 May 2006 (UTC)

I agree. I'm not an expert, though I've done some reading on the history and impact of the disease. Anyway, I made a try at a new introduction that tries to summarize the article in simple terms, including its causes and effects. Suggestions? There would certainly still be a role for a medical expert to work on some of the more technical bits, some of which are pretty tough for a non-medically-trained person. CDC (talk) 23:05, 25 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Notable people who had malaria

I think they might have some. Can we add that to the list. I think Katharine McPhee had Malaria.


No, it's impertinent. And no, we're not going to make a list of notable people who had the common cold, either. —User:Arual 22:10, 17 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Additional info

I read the following interesting claims from a pro-market lobby group called the The Campaign for Fighting Diseases. Clearly insecticides and better water management would help if used properly, but I don't know if there's any basis for the other claims about using oral rehydration salts and existing drugs:

Two-thirds of all African children who die under the age of five could be saved by low-cost treatments such as vitamin A supplements, oral rehydration salts and existing combination-therapy drugs against malaria. Better water management and spraying inexpensive insecticides inside dwellings have been proven to reduce malaria significantly.

But basic vaccinations and drugs are still not getting to a majority of people in sub-Saharan Africa and poor nutrition contributes to over half of all deaths associated with infectious diseases in children under five. [4]

I don't know the topic well, nor whether the organisation is notable, so I'll just leave the quote here. --Singkong2005 talk 13:57, 20 July 2006 (UTC)

The oral rehydration salts is relevant to gastroenteritis (rather than malaria per se) and if available with a clean water supply would indeed save thousands of deaths. I'm sure nutrition contributes, but well fed "westerners" going on holiday and getting malaria can also die if not then promptly treated. David Ruben Talk 15:33, 20 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Trojan horse?

This was removed from the article by an anonymous editor, with the comment Two sentences lacked authoritative tone, contained bad sentence structure, and presented dubious facts. They detracted from the article's credibility, so I removed them.:

How it escapes undetected has been a mystery until a recent discovery. The parasite performs a trojan horse in the dead liver cell. In addition to this ability is that it releases cloaking chemicals to prevent detection.

Fair enough. But I'm posting it here in case it has value, and can be improved and referenced. --Singkong2005 talk 03:55, 10 August 2006 (UTC)

Marasama 17:46, 11 August 2006 (UTC)The extra reference at the bottom tells how the parasite moves out of the liver undetected and into the blood stream. http://www.livescience.com/humanbiology/060808_sneaky_parasite.html

Yeah, my writing skill on that was lacking, but I thought one of you would perfect it, rather than delete it.

Thanks, CarpD (^_^)

Good - I've reinserted the deleted material with the reference (as a footnote). It probably needs further rewording by someone who understands the material. Thanks CarpD a.k.a Marasama. --Singkong2005 talk 03:55, 20 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Chronic Infection numbers?

I understand Malaria can become a chronic infection lasting years or even decades. What estimates are there for the total infected population? -- KarlHallowell 02:39, 19 August 2006 (UTC)

Humans in highly endemic areas become immune or die as child.

This immunity apparently enables them to either reduce the level of infection to undetectable levels or (most likely) to get rid of it entirely. In highly endemic areas, on average, they are reinfected several times before they have cleared themselves, so they continuously have malaria. Their body distributes it's immune-reponse over the current infections, resulting in a managed level of infection. If a new strain of malaria infects them, to which they have no active immunity, they get ill. This happens circa once per 2 or 3 years in Ghana. This determines the number of infected population.

Chronic infections (that are chronic of themselves) can be caused by dormant liver-stage parasites that are only seen with some (less aggressive) species of plasmodia. These are called 'relapses' and are relatively seldom. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Siwardio (talk • contribs) 14:28, 26 March 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Half a billion?

From the article: "Malaria (Italian bad air; formerly called ague in English) is a tropical disease which causes about half a billion infections and 2 million deaths annually"

sounds to me like Malaria infects half a billiton persons per year which can't be true. -- mkrohn 10:02 25 May 2003 (UTC)

It can be true. Some people get cured, then reinfected several times a year. This happens in poor parts of Africa. Alex.tan 16:51, 12 July 2007 (UTC)
I can't see why not. There are easily enough pepple in areas where malaria is endemic, like India and Africa.- I'll try to check jimfbleak 13:54 25 May 2003 (UTC)
see www.idrc.ca/books/reports/1996/01-07e.html which confirms size of problem. jimfbleak 13:55 25 May 2003 (UTC)
That's a dead link, and the reference in the article is a book (Campbell, Neil A. et al. "Biology" Seventh edition. Menlo Park, CA: Addison Wesley Longman, Inc. 2005), so it's not easily checked. Surely 350-500 million annually can't be right - ten years and you'd have over half the world's population. I guess there's some recurrence, though I thought that happened because the parasite is dormant and then awakens, not because of getting bitten again. Could it be that the 350-500 million is the total number infected at one time, as opposed to new infections annually? The wording is a bit ambiguous. --Singkong2005 talk 00:00, 5 September 2006 (UTC)

The figures are from the WHO reports. No one takes the precise numbers too seriously but they are the most reliable figures anyone has. Only tuberculosis is in the same league for deaths per year (~3 million) - this figure is also WHO sourced.

The commonly accepted figure in most articles in most respectable medical journals is 500 000 infections per year. Look in the first paragraph of virtually any scientific paper of the subject. This is usually sourced to WHO, but i confecc i am having trouble finding the original citation. Think of how many cases of infection with the common cold occour each year, it is certainly feasable. Malaria does not produce immune memory, so people can be infected every year, or even twice in a year. There are 3 000 000 000 people in endemic regions, so if every on of them gets infected once every 6 years there's your half a billion easily. Cadmiumcandy 07:21, 13 September 2006 (UTC)


134.226.1.136 21:21, 7 Sep 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Recrudescence and latent infections (relapses)

From my knowledge, very little is really known about latent infections and relapses. Though I believe P. vivax (and maybe P. ovale), and not P. falciparum, is responsible for these infections. This is why I removed "although cases have been reported up to four years after exposure" from the statement about P. falciparum infections.Kurtrik 01:47, 31 October 2006 (UTC)

From the CDC[5]: In P. vivax and P. ovale infections, patients having recovered from the first episode of illness may suffer several additional attacks ("relapses") after months or even years without symptoms. Relapses occur because P. vivax and P. ovale have dormant liver stage parasites ("hypnozoites") that may reactivate. Treatment to reduce the chance of such relapses is available and should follow treatment of the first attack.Kurtrik 02:07, 31 October 2006 (UTC)

I was paraphrasing this paper. TimVickers 03:36, 31 October 2006 (UTC)

From Clinical review: Severe malaria Pre-patent and incubation periods Most nonimmune travelers develop symptoms of falciparum malaria within 1 month of departing from a malaria-endemic area (median 10 days); there have been reports of falciparum malaria presenting up to 4 years later [7]. For nonfalciparum malaria the incubation period is usually longer (median 15–16 days), and both P. vivax and P. ovale malaria may relapse months or years after exposure due to the presence of hypnozoites in the liver. The longest reported incubation period for P. vivax is 30 years [7].

It's generally accepted that falciparum doesn't form hypnozoites, and therefore can never "relapse." What may have happened in this rare 4-years-later case is that the person carried low levels of falciparum in their blood for four years, and it went through a recrudescence. Only vivax and ovale, which form the latent hypnozoites, will result in relapse infections. (I'm getting this from Dickson Despommier's text "Parasitic Diseases," 5th ed.). I would argue that we should maintain the classical information in the wiki article, leaving out the single case of 4-year recrudescence, and emphasising the relapse abilities of vivax and ovale. Kurtrik 15:17, 31 October 2006 (UTC)
OK, done. TimVickers 18:21, 31 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Periodicity

I can't get access to that paper you cited. However, here it says "48-50 hours in case of P. vivax, P. ovale, and P. falciparum, but 72 hours in P. malariae" Is the piece on periodicity a typo? TimVickers 05:04, 31 October 2006 (UTC)

The Despommier text says this as well. I will change it back to this, using the RBM as a source.Kurtrik 17:19, 31 October 2006 (UTC)
Thanks, I wish there were fewer organisms, having multiple etiological agents is simply confusing! TimVickers 18:20, 31 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Plan of action for FA process

I intend to bring this article to FA quality and take it through the FA process. As part of this we will need to ensure it conforms to WP:LAYOUT and WP:MEDMOS, and uses the highest quality sources specific to the subject area,. Any changes I may make that seem not to improve the article, but just put it in a different format, will probably be due to me trying to re-arrange things to fit these guidelines. TimVickers 05:12, 2 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Discussion on merging of Malarial parasite

There is no need for a separate article titled "malarial parasite." Let's move the info to this page.Kurtrik 17:53, 18 November 2006 (UTC)

There is nothing on the "Malaria parasite" page that is not here already. I propose simply replacing the Malaria parasite page with a redirect to "Plasmodium". TimVickers 19:03, 18 November 2006 (UTC)
I concurr - although that's technically a merge into Plasmodium. --Sigma 7 02:38, 19 November 2006 (UTC)

OK, merge done. TimVickers 19:35, 20 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Possible copyright violation?

In the Diagnosis section is the following text: "Please refer to the chapters on each parasite for their microscopic appearances. P. falciparum, P. vivax, P. ovale, P. malariae.". Chapters? Either this is taken from someone's book, or the word chapters is being inappropriately used. --Xyzzyplugh 00:21, 18 December 2006 (UTC)

That should read article, thanks. TimVickers 00:23, 18 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Experimental "conjugate technology" vaccine

It doesn't help the person who has been bitten, but it will eliminate the parasites from the mosquito.[6] Brian Pearson 06:13, 19 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] HIV, TB co-infections

Under the "Distrubution and Impact" heading, there are several phrases speaking to co-infections of HIV, TB and malaria:

Although co-infection with HIV and malaria does cause increased mortality, this is less of a problem than with HIV/tuberculosis co-infection, due to the two diseases usually attacking different age-ranges, with malaria being most common in the young and tuberculosis most common in the old.[16] However, in areas of unstable malaria transmission, HIV does contribute to the incidence of severe malaria in adults during malaria outbreaks.[17] There is also a high correlation between HIV and malaria. This correlation has lead to scientific research that suggests that malaria itself is a major contributor to the spread of HIV[18]. This study shows that, "Higher viral load causes more HIV transmission, and malaria causes high HIV viral load."

This section should be reviewed and edited: the first sentence doesn't make sense (for example, TB infects individuals of all ages); there isn't a reference for the info on TB; and if the study is going to be referenced (ref. #18), please use the PMID=17158329 rather than the dogflu.ca link. I hope to revisit this myself soon, but I wanted to mention it on the talk page in case if I don't.Kurtrik 04:05, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] bad wording on liver stage

HLA-B53 is associated with low risk of severe malaria. This MHC class I molecule presents liver stage and sporozoite antigens to T-Cells. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 207.151.239.71 (talk) 03:52, 1 February 2007 (UTC).

[edit] Someone vandalized

I see "Brandin is cool" under history section right where the 2nd paragraph begins. Yet there is no way of removing that phraze. What is going on? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.108.104.199 (talk)

Vandalism. It's been removed. Fvasconcellos 21:13, 3 February 2007 (UTC)

I removed just another incidence of vandalism 85.177.178.55 17:29, 12 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] wrong info

"Individuals homozygous for HbS have full sickle-cell anaemia and rarely live beyond adolescence" - I don't think this is correct anymore.

If I remember correctly, that was true in West Africa but not in richer countries. Suitably altered the wording. Richard Keatinge 15:21, 7 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] "Malaria-infected mice cured by 1 dose of new drug"

Gary Posner, Johns Hopkins University: "Most important is their curative activity after a single, low dose, which is distinctly unusual. But based on our intentional design, they may also have a longer half-life in animals. We also designed them to be more lipophilic, meaning they have an enhanced ability to dissolve in fats and thus to arrive inside malaria-infected red blood cells."[7] Brian Pearson 22:38, 17 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] A topical serpin involved in malaria resistance

The Monday, 24 October 2005 BBC News headline,

Malaria gene 'defends mosquitoes'

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4370960.stm

...turns out to refer to this paper:

An immune-responsive serpin, SRPN6, mediates mosquito defense against malaria parasites

http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?tool=pubmed&pubmedid=16260729

The conclusion states that Anopheles stephensi SRPN6 is either directly or indirectly involved in the parasite-killing process, whereas Anopheles gambiae SRPN6 apparently acts further downstream on parasite clearance by promoting lysis.

(Mosquitoes with SRPN6 expression knocked out were ultra-susceptible to Plasmodium infection; steps are being taken to produce mosquitoes with a constitutively-active SPRN6 gene, to see what effect that has - immune mosquitoes in the wild would equal reduced Plasmodium transmission rates, until either the parasite or the insect evolved round it...)

I originally posted the above in the Talk:Serpin page (this is only the second time I've done anything on wikipedia, so I didn't add it to the actual page) and someone suggested it might go better on the Malaria page, so I thought I would post it here so that it can be added if thought useful.

Cheers, Tommy B.


[edit] little more p.c.

the part where it says "The genotype has not been found in Chinese populations, has rarely been found in white populations, but is found in 68% of black people. This is thought to be due to very high exposure to P. vivax in Africa in the past."

should probably change Chinese to asain, white to caucasian, and black to "of african descent"

None of the Chinese people I know are insulted by being described as Chinese, in fact, they seem quite proud of this. However, I've reworded this and added a reference. TimVickers 03:23, 9 May 2007 (UTC)
I've known some who prefer "asian", especially as opposed to "oriental". Brian Pearson 04:28, 19 June 2007 (UTC)

Chinese would appear to be an accurate nomenclature. Furthermore "Asian" to the British means Pakistani, Bangladeshi or Indian, most definitely not "East Asian" (Chinese, Japanese etc.). Asian as a term would seem best avoided, especially as to the pedant it would also include Turks, some Arabs and some Russians etc etc. Urselius 14:26, 4 July 2007 (UTC)

I agree, 'Caucasian' is less accurate than 'white' as Caucasian people include white people and brown skinned Indian people. 'Black' is probably more accurate (we are all of African descent), and is certainly more succinct. The terms 'black' and 'white' are descriptive and not pejorative. That's how the medical literature uses the terms, and I can see nothing wrong in doing so.FelixFelix talk 15:38, 20 July 2007 (UTC)
But it's all gone anyway-winning me irrelevant talk page edit of the week, I think..FelixFelix talk 15:40, 20 July 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Vaccine may be possible

"...researchers at The University of Nottingham believe they have made a significant breakthrough in the search for an effective vaccine." [8] Brian Pearson 15:48, 23 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] prophylactic contributions to resistance

to quote from the article as it stands: "Use of prophylactic drugs is seldom practical for full-time residents of malaria-endemic areas, and their use is usually restricted to short-term visitors and travelers to malarial regions. This is due to the cost of purchasing the drugs, negative side effects from long-term use, and because some effective anti-malarial drugs are difficult to obtain outside of wealthy nations." IANAD, but I do have extensive experience with both western and non-western doctors and malaria prophylactics, and the western view is not shared by many if not most doctors in malarial regions AFAIK. The article should add to this list of reasons the legitimate concern that prophylactic use promotoes resistance, as we have seen with cloroquine. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 211.125.175.193 (talk) 02:02, 19 June 2007

An excellent point. Would you care to add the information on resistance-promotion? -- MarcoTolo 18:52, 19 June 2007 (UTC)

[edit] red blood cell's password system

What does this phrase even mean? It certainly isn't encyclopaedic. I'd edit it myself but I have no idea what the author was trying to say here.

I've reworded it. They just meant that the drug blocks a signalling event that is required for parasite entry into the RBC. Tim Vickers 15:37, 5 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Patarroyo ignored

I just added a paragraph about Manuel Elkin Patarroyo who was completely ignored in the article. The paragraph is taken from the article on Patarroyo in Wikipedia.

If it has been proved that his vaccine has an eficiency rate of at least 30% (he claims from 30% to 50%) it means that around 1 million people are being saved. No article about malaria can ignore this nor that he is developing a second vaccine that he claims will be 98% efficient and that will be available in two years.

Ok, he is not American, he says he has turned down a 68 dollar offer from a pharmaceutical company which wanted exclusive development, his competitors can only claim around 10% less eficiency. Again, he is not American but neither is Wikipedia. How can you ignore Patarroyo for the better or the worse?

Is he a liar? If so, say why. Do you need a bunch of old men meeting in a room in Sweden to give him their blessing or a million saved lives is enough to quote him in this article?

Please, keep a watch on this article of a free (not American) encyclopedia. --Savedor 09:14, 2 September 2007 (UTC)

I don't know how to add footnotes. Anybody please add this link and a footnote after the paragraph about the dispute regarding Patarroyo's vaccine.

Health Race for Malaria Money (BBC, July 1999) http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/404157.stm --Savedor 11:46, 3 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] British guidelines

PMID 17215045 shows new British guidelines, for use in updating. JFW | T@lk 16:27, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

PMID 14583868 - recent review on malaria in children. JFW | T@lk 16:27, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Treatment Costs

The MSF article referenced at the end of the section on treatment costs is almost five years old. In that very article, it says, "We estimate that the price of the amodiaquine + artesunate combination will decrease from US$1.30 to US$0.60 by 2004." I wouldn't have any idea where to begin to look for current data on this - MSF doesn't appear to have any on their website. --DrGaellon (talk | contribs) 19:51, 26 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Does this sound correct?

"About half of all the humans who have ever lived have died from malaria." -- Natalie Angier, 'Parasites and Sex,' The Beauty of the Beastly. If true this is worth mentioning in the article.


As stated below, the source [9], which is full of dubious factoids, imputes to WHO the claim that infectious diseases, of which malaria is one, may have killed half of all people who have ever lived. Given that most people who have ever lived died thousands of years ago (Scientific American did the math not so long ago), verifying this suggestion would be very difficult but, in any case, it's not about malaria in particular. JQ (talk) 04:47, 21 December 2007 (UTC)


I found the Angier quote [10] here, and it's been repeated a few times around the Internets since then, but Angier gives no supporting reference. Still, she says it. This kind of thing is always a bit problematic. Right now there are around 100 million deaths a year, and malaria is estimated to account for 1 million, so the quote in isolation would be highly problematic. if it's true, a more accurate statement would be "the vast majority of people who have ever lived and died did so in Neolithic and Paleolithic times, mostly in Africa, and malaria may have killed half of them". But it's important to avoid too much OR in commenting on it.JQ (talk) 05:04, 21 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] poverty

"Malaria is commonly associated with poverty, but is also a cause of poverty..." —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.246.99.186 (talk) 01:05, 7 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Against Malaria Foundation

Recommend The Against Malaria Foundation (www.againstmalaria.com) be added as a link under the mosquito netting section. This oirgainstion is the largest malaria advocacy group in the world by number of participants. 100% of the funds they raise buy LLINs. Relevant when people want to know 'what can i do to help?' —Preceding unsigned comment added by Rmatherwiki (talk • contribs) 14:21, 8 December 2007 (UTC)

I've added it in a charity sub-section. Nunquam Dormio (talk) 14:43, 8 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Malaria has killed 1 of every 2 people who have ever lived?

Seems kinda important. Maybe the article should mention this.

[11] —Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.134.164.46 (talk) 04:39, 21 December 2007 (UTC)


Umm, no. The source [12], which is full of dubious factoids, imputes to WHO the claim that infectious diseases, of which malaria is one, may have killed half of all people who have ever lived. Given that most people who have ever lived died thousands of years ago (Scientific American did the math not so long ago), verifying this suggestion would be very difficult but, in any case, it's not about malaria in particular. JQ (talk) 04:47, 21 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Malaria in temperate regions

This article seems to be a bit misleading. Mosquitoes, including those carrying malaria, can survive in temperate regions. In fact, during the 1920's, the soviet union had a malaria epidemic killing thousands. Though malaria is wide spread in tropical regions, people reading this article might be led to believe that malaria is not a temperate disease. This fuels the malaria scare, that suggests that global warming will cause malaria to spread northward, which is not the case. I ask that an administer take this into consideration. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 65.32.134.74 (talk) 05:57, 14 March 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Mistake in Causes:Malaria Parasites

In this section, there is a mistake:

"P. falciparum is the most common cause of infection, responsible for about 80 % of all malaria cases. However, P. falciparum is the most important cause of disease, and responsible for about 90% of deaths.[38]"

Should read:

"P. vivax is the most common cause of infection, responsible for about 80% of all malaria cases. However, P. falciparum is the most important cause of disease, and responsible for about 90% of deaths.[38]"

Also one silly typo removed (80 % should be 80%)

Can someone make the necessary edits to the article as don't seem to be able?

Gwrichardson (talk) 08:43, 15 March 2008 (UTC)

I've corrected this, to Pf causing both 80% of infections, and 90% of deaths. Tim Vickers (talk) 20:50, 19 March 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Nothing But Nets

I think a useful external link to add under General information or Mosquito netting as prevention would be Nothing But Nets, a campaign spearheaded by the UN Foundation, United Methodist Church, and NBA Cares. It offers a $10-per-net program to fight malaria in Africa.

[www.nothingbutnets.net]

71.11.215.216 (talk) 22:39, 18 March 2008 (UTC)

Is this a notable organization discussed in major news media, such as the BBC or CNN? Tim Vickers (talk) 23:05, 18 March 2008 (UTC)
I haven't seen it in major news media, but I think you can agree it has some pretty major partners. And I believe several other organizations have been added to the list that haven't been discussed in the media. 71.11.215.216 (talk) 03:55, 20 March 2008 (UTC)
Yes, we have to keep sweeping the links section, since it grows continuously. I just removed a bunch more non-notable organisations. You could add a link to Malaria prophylaxis, since this doesn't have any external links at present and is much more specific to what you are trying to do. Tim Vickers (talk) 19:55, 20 March 2008 (UTC)
This organiastion was mentioned prominently in the NYT today link. I'll add this as a link. Tim Vickers (talk) 17:31, 2 June 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Species infecting Humans

In this article, it says that only 4 species actually infect humans, but in the Plasmodium article, it says that at least 10 species infect humans. I can't correct it, because I don't know which is true, but I thought I should point that out. 67.122.209.85 (talk) 05:52, 8 April 2008 (UTC)


[edit] No citations in first paragraphs

I didn't see any citations in the first few paragraphs. This definately needs fixing Works of Sweat (talk) 23:51, 10 April 2008 (UTC)

People don't usually add those in Wikipedia, since this section is seen as the equivalent of the abstract of a paper. Tim Vickers (talk) 01:11, 11 April 2008 (UTC)

[edit] have there been any signs of malaria in 2008

i personaly have not seen any sign of malaria in 2008 —Preceding unsigned comment added by 209.254.12.73 (talk) 20:44, 2 June 2008 (UTC)