Malaria is a disease caused by a parasite through the bite of a fly. The small parasite multiplies quickly inside your red blood cells and you can start seeing symptoms sometimes within days. The disease has always been a major problem because proper care and medicine was not being given to those in third world countries who were getting this disease. But with the right care and treatment malaria is fairly treatable.
It was not until recently that a new from of Malaria has been discovered. The World Health Organization has declared this new strain a drug-resistant falciparum malaria. This new malaria has spread to new territory in Thailand and is increasingly not responding to treatment. The WHO fears that in the future the common drug, piperaquine, will no longer have any effect on the disease and the amount of cases will start to rise.
This frightening story reminds me of the story Mountains Beyond Mountains, and how Dr. Farmer had to deal with the fear of the new strain of TB that was also drug resistant. Hopefully the WHO can come up with a new treatment for the malaria before it turns into a pandemic.
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I found this article very interesting becuase in class we have been reading the book Moutains Beyond Moutains, and this article relates to that. For example there are many diseases and other problems happening in Haiti (a 3rd world country) that are very treatable in other places. Malaria is a very treatable disease but due to the poverty and other factors affecting Africa many people suffer from it. I also found it interesting that Malaria has been developing a new drug resistant strain, and i had just posted an article about whooping cough doing the same thing.
ReplyDeleteI find it very scary that a disease like Malaria has a drug resistant strain. It is especially scary because Malaria is easily spread in third world countries, and as the drug resistant strain increases it will be harder to treat. I think that it would be best now to take a lot of preventative measures before it gets out of hand. For example, foundations like UNICEF or the WHO, could invest more money in those special bed nets that keep misquotes out, or some sort of pesticide. Just like with the money that was raised for polio, it should go towards needed equipment and the training of doctors and nurses, so that the disease can be treated and cured that way.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Ian's point that this post is particularlu interesting due to the fact that we have been reading Mountains Beyond Mountains in class and there is a connection to it, with another disease. The fact that their is a drug resistant disease is a very scary thing. I remember in Mountains Beyond Mountains reading about the one of the cases Dr. Farmer found the most difficult to deal with was the drug resistant TB, even though with conditions in the best hospitals, it is still in most cases, untreatable. When reading this I also made a connection to the flu, and how new strains of the flu are always emerging. Hopefully, like the flu, their will be a way to vaccinate them.
ReplyDeleteI agree with everyone and think that this article flows well with what we are learning in class. This article just goes to show how diseases can mutate and how scientists need to continue to monitor disease and the drugs we use to treat them. I thought Anjali made a great point when she said that there will hopefully be a way to vaccinate people with a drug resistant strand of Malaria like there is for the flu. Nevertheless, this article is an example of how diseases can evolve and without proper treatment they could lead to a huge epidemic.
ReplyDeleteI thought this article was a very interesting one to talk about. I think that malaria is a very scary disease and could effect anyone at anytime. I thought it was interesting that it is an easy disease to cure. After hearing what happens when you get it, it doesn’t seem like it would be that easy to cure. I agree with Emily when she said its frightening that this disease could become uprising and could affect more people. This reminded me a lot of the diseases we learn about because some of them you can show symptoms but others you may not show any. I hope they find a cure so that the disease doesn’t spread to people.
ReplyDeleteI also agree with everyone on here and that this article really connected with our class and all the diseases we have learned about.