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The most effective malaria vaccine yet discovered

blogs.sciencemag.org

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Re: The most effective malaria vaccine yet discovered

#151

Post by BurningFrog »

ff-- wrote: post #132
ChrisMarshallNY wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I grew up in Africa. We weren't as scared of Ebola, as we were, of good old Malaria. It's also the gift that keeps on giving. Once you get it, it does a reunion tour, every now and then, for the rest of your life. At the dinner table, we (expats) used to have a bowl of quinine tablets, set out like a condiment. I really hope this works out, because, thanks to climate change, the lower 48 may get a chance to find some…

Malaria used to be common in the US until the 1950s or so. It was eradicated through extensive mosquito control and engineering efforts. Rich countries can cope; it's the developing world that's thoroughly boned, at least until industrial capabilities catch up.

I can't help being annoyed by how the West first exterminated malaria at home, and then, once they were safe, started worrying about the ecological consequences of doing the same in Africa.

Re: The most effective malaria vaccine yet discovered

#152

Post by Quarrel »

ff-- wrote: post #132
ChrisMarshallNY wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I grew up in Africa. We weren't as scared of Ebola, as we were, of good old Malaria. It's also the gift that keeps on giving. Once you get it, it does a reunion tour, every now and then, for the rest of your life. At the dinner table, we (expats) used to have a bowl of quinine tablets, set out like a condiment. I really hope this works out, because, thanks to climate change, the lower 48 may get a chance to find some…

Malaria used to be common in the US until the 1950s or so. It was eradicated through extensive mosquito control and engineering efforts. Rich countries can cope; it's the developing world that's thoroughly boned, at least until industrial capabilities catch up.

It used to be common in southern Europe as well and was an absolute scourge in SEA until the 20th century.

Re: The most effective malaria vaccine yet discovered

#153

Post by jogjayr »

ChrisMarshallNY wrote: post #56
Exmoor wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Malaria deaths peaked around 930,000 a year in 2004, and is around 600,000 a year now Your link does a good job showing this, but for those who don't click and scroll down it's probably worth mentioning that the vast majority of those deaths are in central Africa. So it's not just a lot of deaths, but it's a really significant portion of the population and, as you said, mostly children.

I grew up in Africa. We weren't as scared of Ebola, as we were, of good old Malaria. It's also the gift that keeps on giving. Once you get it, it does a reunion tour, every now and then, for the rest of your life. At the dinner table, we (expats) used to have a bowl of quinine tablets, set out like a condiment. I really hope this works out, because, thanks to climate change, the lower 48 may get a chance to find some…

> Once you get it, it does a reunion tour, every now and then, for the rest of your life.

Maybe only certain strains of malaria do that? I had malaria many years ago. It was a very unpleasant experience, but I recovered in a couple of weeks with no lingering effects.

Growing up in India, malaria was common. But I don't recall anyone living in terror of it. Mosquito nets, mosquito repellent incense, repellent cream, turning the ceiling fan on to full speed were common countermeasures we employed at bedtime.

Re: The most effective malaria vaccine yet discovered

#154

Post by Quarrel »

mr_overalls wrote: post #19
eloff wrote: post #5

What blows me away is in a study group of 734 infants, which benefited from maternal antibodies against malaria, 717 were infected by malaria in the first year of their life. That's nearly 100%, in the first year since birth. That's devastating. The vaccine is showing 77% efficacy in trials in Burkina Faso. That's an ongoing pandemic that makes covid-19 look like a case of the sniffles. Malaria deaths peaked around 9…

That's just an astounding incidence rate. That kind of selective pressure makes the reason for the sickle cell mutation in hemoglobin more obvious. https://www.cdc.gov/malaria/about/biology/index.html > Inheritance of this mutated gene from both parents leads to sickle cell disease and people with this disease have shorter life expectancy. On the contrary, individuals who are carriers for the sickle cell disease (wit…

Very strong selective pressure.

Sickle cell has separately arisen in at least four populations in Africa and some in South East Asia.

Re: The most effective malaria vaccine yet discovered

#155

Post by PeterisP »

coliveira wrote: post #70
eloff wrote: post #5

What blows me away is in a study group of 734 infants, which benefited from maternal antibodies against malaria, 717 were infected by malaria in the first year of their life. That's nearly 100%, in the first year since birth. That's devastating. The vaccine is showing 77% efficacy in trials in Burkina Faso. That's an ongoing pandemic that makes covid-19 look like a case of the sniffles. Malaria deaths peaked around 9…

The wealthy nations don't care about malaria because it happens only in poor countries. Maybe global warming will make them finally take notice.

Malaria used to happen in USA and Europe, it was eradicated there less than hundred years ago.

Re: The most effective malaria vaccine yet discovered

#156

Post by mkingston »

soperj wrote: post #38
MongooseMan wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Comparing the deaths side by side misses an important aspect: most malaria deaths are children, whereas Covid mostly affects older age groups.

Because old people are worth less than children?

My anecdotal observation is that is a position that a majority of old people themselves take, at least nominally.

Re: The most effective malaria vaccine yet discovered

#157

Post by hammock »

soperj wrote: post #39
eloff wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, but over the course of history, there's no comparison. Which was my point. Covid-19 is hopefully going to be short-lived thanks to the vaccines, but even if it weren't for that it would likely become more virulent but less deadly over time like the other Coronaviruses that are endemic in humans. There is a also a big difference in lives lost at the end of life versus at the beginning.

>Covid-19 is hopefully going to be short-lived thanks to the vaccines, but even if it weren't for that it would likely become more virulent but less deadly over time like the other Coronaviruses that are endemic in humans. Over the last year it's be come more virulent and more deadly. We have no idea how well the vaccines are going to work. We have a situation right now where a country(india) with 100 million people…

>Over the last year it's be come more virulent and more deadly

Source?

Re: The most effective malaria vaccine yet discovered

#158

Post by Iv »

eloff wrote: post #5

What blows me away is in a study group of 734 infants, which benefited from maternal antibodies against malaria, 717 were infected by malaria in the first year of their life. That's nearly 100%, in the first year since birth. That's devastating. The vaccine is showing 77% efficacy in trials in Burkina Faso. That's an ongoing pandemic that makes covid-19 look like a case of the sniffles. Malaria deaths peaked around 9…

Covid-19 is a baby bike with training wheels. And we fail disastrously at that. It is far from the worse scenario epidemiologists train for, but it could easily become one: a variant with high lethality can always appear suddenly.

And yes, malaria is not discussed enough. I remember Bill Gates releasing mosquitos in a room before a speech to get the public attention "these could carry a deadly disease we have no cure for"

Re: The most effective malaria vaccine yet discovered

#159

Post by wincy »

todd8 wrote: post #82
eloff wrote: post #5

What blows me away is in a study group of 734 infants, which benefited from maternal antibodies against malaria, 717 were infected by malaria in the first year of their life. That's nearly 100%, in the first year since birth. That's devastating. The vaccine is showing 77% efficacy in trials in Burkina Faso. That's an ongoing pandemic that makes covid-19 look like a case of the sniffles. Malaria deaths peaked around 9…

Although some posts suggest that the USA may experience malaria at some point in the future because of global warming; in actuality, the USA has already experienced malaria. In 1882, the range of malaria in the USA extended from the Canadian border on the north to southern border with Mexico on the south. The only states of the current 48 contiguous states unaffected were Nevada, Utah, Arizona, Idaho, Main, Vermont,…

The eradication efforts in the US included lots and lots of DDT.

The Little House on the Prairie family caught malaria, and was so sick they almost died of dehydration because they couldn’t get down to the river to drink.

https://littlehouseontheprairie.com/dr-george-a-tann-pioneer...

Re: The most effective malaria vaccine yet discovered

#160

Post by treeman79 »

yorwba wrote: post #138
treeman79 wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is an extremely effective treatment. Millions have perished from being denied it. https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB113236412756302115

The Stockholm Convention on Organic Pollutants contains an explicit exemption for DDT used for disease vector control. ( http://chm.pops.int/Portals/0/Repository/convention_text/UNE... page 28.) Your "millions have perished from being denied it" is incorrect. I don't know whether that's the Wall Street Journal's fault, because I won't pay them to find out whether they're wrong.

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2006-may-29-fg-ddt29...

Been awhile since I researched the topic, but it was clear Africa counties got a lot heat each time they tried to use DDT.

So I will stick by millions dead.

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