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Malaria breakthrough as scientists find ‘highly effective’ way to kill parasite

theguardian.com

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Re: Malaria breakthrough as scientists find ‘highly effective’ way to kill parasite

#61

Post by justinclift »

RcouF1uZ4gsC wrote: post #52
_Microft wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is not because of gene manipulations per se but because by design it is proliferating by itself. Contrast that to a vaccine that turns out to be not safe: administering the vaccine would then just be stopped. If these gene-drive mosquitoes, on the other hand, turn out to be a problem, then there is no easy way to stop that. So better get it right the first time and - as much as you do not seem to like that - that…

>Contrast that to a vaccine that turns out to be not safe: administering the vaccine would then just be stopped. The smallpox vaccine which was responsible for the eradication of smallpox was a live virus and could spread from person to person. And through the course of time, it did mutate/become contaminated. It was originally cowpox, but at an unknown time sometime in the 1800's actually became vaccinia virus. http…

That's not what those links say:

> It is not known whether vaccinia virus is the product of genetic recombination, or if it is a species derived from cowpox virus or variola virus by prolonged serial passage, or if it is the living representative of a now extinct virus.

Re: Malaria breakthrough as scientists find ‘highly effective’ way to kill parasite

#62

Post by roywiggins »

projektfu wrote: post #40
_Microft wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is not because of gene manipulations per se but because by design it is proliferating by itself. Contrast that to a vaccine that turns out to be not safe: administering the vaccine would then just be stopped. If these gene-drive mosquitoes, on the other hand, turn out to be a problem, then there is no easy way to stop that. So better get it right the first time and - as much as you do not seem to like that - that…

There is some chance that a modified live vaccine can mutate into a superpathogen that becomes immediately widespread and deadly. There is a theory that this happened with the feline panleukopenia vaccine and that this became canine parvovirus, with rapid, worldwide distribution of the new pathogen. Something to think about when we put 250,000 human lives on one side of the balance and a big question mark on the othe…

If the actual full-strength virus hasn't managed it why would a live vaccine be any more likely to? It's not going to be replicating very much- it was designed to be bad at actually infecting people but good at provoking an immune response.

Re: Malaria breakthrough as scientists find ‘highly effective’ way to kill parasite

#63

Post by [deleted] »

gus_massa wrote: post #6

From the press article: > Child malaria episodes could be reduced by up to 20% if populations living in high-risk areas are given Ivermectin, [....] > An expert, independent from the study, said reports of resistance to the current class of malaria drugs are on the rise. [...] “There are cases of the drugs being sold over the counter, leading to their resistance and overuse. [...]” If the plan is to give everyone the…

[deleted]

Re: Malaria breakthrough as scientists find ‘highly effective’ way to kill parasite

#64

Post by BurningFrog »

bo1024 wrote: post #53
mmsimanga wrote: post #20

As a kid growing up in Malaria country I got yellow jaundice. Doctor told my dad that since I had had yellow jaundice I was "immune" to malaria. Its been 35 odd years since I have taken any malaria medication. Family members often get malaria once or so a year. A few years ago I decided to check to see if there were was any literature online with link between Malaria and jaundice. I couldn't find any papers online. N…

Visited malaria country recently and was told by doctors that most people growing up there end up with constant low levels of the malaria parasite (like 1-2% of red blood cells maybe) that their bodies have just learned to live with. Not exactly immunity.

> ... their bodies have just learned to live with. Not exactly immunity

Doesn't exactly sound like lack of immunity either.

I mean, completely non immune people just die.

Re: Malaria breakthrough as scientists find ‘highly effective’ way to kill parasite

#65

Post by BurningFrog »

ses1984 wrote: post #33
mullingitover wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This is just my interpretation, but it seems like there is a sensible portion of detractors who simply want to derisk the experiment as much as possible by collecting more and more data. This is so infuriating. Many people will die during this extended hemming and hawing. Humans have driven countless important species to extinction with no thought, but we have to vacillate over a species that is responsible for mor…

When we drove species to extinction before, it was accidental, and it's usually viewed as a huge mistake. I wouldn't want to be one of the people who advocates for it, and then it turns out to be a giant disaster. The potential risk seems huge and could affect generations. Although I it would be pretty easy to hedge against that risk by keeping some mosquitos/eggs alive in a lab, and if the experiment goes wrong, re-…

> and then it turns out to be a giant disaster

The purpose of this is to stop the current giant disaster of 1000+ people a day dying from malaria.

I can't help thinking that if this was affecting American middle class neighborhoods where environmentalists live, the mosquitos would be wiped out quicker than plastic straws.

Re: Malaria breakthrough as scientists find ‘highly effective’ way to kill parasite

#66

Post by BurningFrog »

NegativeK wrote: post #21
RcouF1uZ4gsC wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Then there are others who are in general opposed to this sort of interference in an animal population on ethical grounds. There are over 250,000 children under the age of 5 that die every year from malaria. In my ethical system, there is very little that can possibly justify trying to prevent something that will save the lives of 250,000 children a year. Anyone who actively tries to delay wiping out malaria causing…

Long-term, irreversible damages to entire species and ecosystems when perhaps a non-destructive solution is close? I don't feel like reductive arguments are useful for incredibly complex systems.

Letting 1000+ people a day die is a non-destructive solution?

Re: Malaria breakthrough as scientists find ‘highly effective’ way to kill parasite

#67

Post by jessaustin »

gus_massa wrote: post #6

From the press article: > Child malaria episodes could be reduced by up to 20% if populations living in high-risk areas are given Ivermectin, [....] > An expert, independent from the study, said reports of resistance to the current class of malaria drugs are on the rise. [...] “There are cases of the drugs being sold over the counter, leading to their resistance and overuse. [...]” If the plan is to give everyone the…

We give it to our horses every year, and it still kills intestinal worms. Some genetic changes are just so large that they are extremely unlikely.

Re: Malaria breakthrough as scientists find ‘highly effective’ way to kill parasite

#68

Post by maxerickson »

sszz wrote: post #19
RcouF1uZ4gsC wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Then there are others who are in general opposed to this sort of interference in an animal population on ethical grounds. There are over 250,000 children under the age of 5 that die every year from malaria. In my ethical system, there is very little that can possibly justify trying to prevent something that will save the lives of 250,000 children a year. Anyone who actively tries to delay wiping out malaria causing…

There are legitimate concerns about efficacy (there’s research that suggests that evolution will help mosquitoes escape the gene drive effect, making it useful for only a short period of time) and about unknown ecological consequences (knocking out a primary food source in an ecosystem can have devastating health and economic consequences). That’s not to say it’s not worth it, but it is worth debating and figuring ou…

Which ecosystem are human-biting mosquitoes a primary food source in?

Re: Malaria breakthrough as scientists find ‘highly effective’ way to kill parasite

#69

Post by projektfu »

roywiggins wrote: post #62
projektfu wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is some chance that a modified live vaccine can mutate into a superpathogen that becomes immediately widespread and deadly. There is a theory that this happened with the feline panleukopenia vaccine and that this became canine parvovirus, with rapid, worldwide distribution of the new pathogen. Something to think about when we put 250,000 human lives on one side of the balance and a big question mark on the othe…

If the actual full-strength virus hasn't managed it why would a live vaccine be any more likely to? It's not going to be replicating very much- it was designed to be bad at actually infecting people but good at provoking an immune response.

Both are possible at any point.

Re: Malaria breakthrough as scientists find ‘highly effective’ way to kill parasite

#70

Post by mmsimanga »

ajoy wrote: post #29
mmsimanga wrote: post #20

As a kid growing up in Malaria country I got yellow jaundice. Doctor told my dad that since I had had yellow jaundice I was "immune" to malaria. Its been 35 odd years since I have taken any malaria medication. Family members often get malaria once or so a year. A few years ago I decided to check to see if there were was any literature online with link between Malaria and jaundice. I couldn't find any papers online. N…

I am not sure this if of any use and I am nowhere near an expert on this field. But I found this article by doing a google search for "link malaria parasite hepatitis" : https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3097216/ Hepatitis is a major cause of jaundice (jaundice is a symptom after all, of the underlying disease). So it could be that even if you are infected, the symptoms are less pronounced? Again, I am not…

Thank you for the link. I skimmed through it (not being a medical person myself). It is most definitely the closest formal confirmation of what I was told back then.
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