Could there be a cure…
…for malaria?
Perhaps; this sounds very promising.
Malaria is still an enormous scourge in Africa, killing millions—especially children—and debilitating many others:
According to the World malaria report 2011, there were about 216 million cases of malaria (with an uncertainty range of 149 million to 274 million) and an estimated 655 000 deaths in 2010 (with an uncertainty range of 537 000 to 907 000). Malaria mortality rates have fallen by more than 25% globally since 2000, and by 33% in the WHO African Region. Most deaths occur among children living in Africa where a child dies every minute from malaria.
I wrote about the issues involved, including the use and/or banning of DDT, back in February of 2009:
In 2006 WHO lifted its ban on the insecticide, and many believe the substance’s adverse environmental and health effects have been greatly exaggerated. For example, South Africa found that it was a very effective tool in the anti-malaria arsenal, with no seeming ill effects. And, as even this environmental group observes as it reluctantly agrees that wider use of DDT would be a good thing, “we believe that the benefits derived from eliminating malaria through the use of DDT far outweigh any dangers.”
If this single-dose cure pans out, the DDT controversy could become irrelevant. It’s a big “if,” though; so far there have only been animal trials.
[Hat tip: Instapundit.]
I don’t understand why you’ve posted about this – or why you posted about the issue in the past. I have it on great authority that conservatives (and especially neocons!) are all evil and lacking in compassion. This is no time to be muddying those waters – infested with mosquito larvae as they undoubtedly are.
Thanks, Rachel Carson. Millions have died due to your erroneous beliefs, or supposed beliefs, about DDT. I pray that this potential cure is one that delivers on its promise.
“Malaria mortality rates have fallen”. There is a fraud going on in Africa where Malaria deaths are transcribed as Aids deaths to inflate the aids epidemic. Why? Simple. There is money in aids, big money. Keep the stats high and the money keeps flowing in.
We have a fair amount of malaria in Southeast Asia, too. Not in the big cities like Bangkok or Jakarta, but out in the back country. Thailand has probably done the most to wipe out this ancient scourge, but you still have to be careful in rural areas. Same thing in Indonesia. No problem in Java or Bali, but out in West Papua or inland Kalimantan, better take your meds.
The DDT debate will never become irrelevant. It is, to my and many minds, the modern equivalent of the Holocaust. It was a choice people made, for the rest of the world, based on known false scientific understandings, and used to murder millions, perhaps in congruency with the other methods, a billion people. It was done by people who disclaim even the notion of prejudice and point fingers like hyenas, raising every uncle Tom they can find in their ranks, and attacking any who deny their king with no clothes. Abortion is next on the list, but I’m not holding my breath.
Let life be, let it choose, grow, live, and die. We shouldn’t have a hand in it, let economics and other factors support or deny what it takes to live. That is the final answer. Anything else is pure, unmitigated, murder.
I read that EPA headquarters has a Rachel Carson room. A room to honor a liar.
Oh, and despite the lift on the ban, the use of DDT is still quite restricted for fear that the EU won’t take “tainted grain” in whatever bogus trade scam they have going on with most African nations. So… the ban pretty much is still mostly intact. Just… so you know.