Critically weakened

What happens when a vampire does not feed on human blood?

If you believe the tales spun in Vampire Diaries, then the once-deadly creature becomes significantly weakened, looses the ability to affect the human brain, and is generally much less threatening than his human blood consuming counterpart. The same is true for the variety of parasite that Dr Andrea Crisanti is studying in an attempt to find a malaria vaccine.

Malaria, a mosquito-borne disease that affects 300-500 million people each year, is caused by infection with Plasmodium parasites. The deadly disease kills approximately one million people every year, most of whom are children and pregnant women, is treatable and preventable. The search for a malaria vaccine is well under way, but the "number of life cycle changes" that the parasites undergo increase "the challenges of malarial vaccine development." In other words, because the malaria parasites change and adapt rapidly, a workable vaccine is difficult to develop.

However, recent research by Crisanti and her colleagues "have found that weakened Plasmodium elicits a protective immune response." This means that clinically and genetically weakened parasites may be used for vaccine development. Crisanti's team targeted Plasmepsin 4, "a digestive enzyme that is critical for Plasmodium growth and survival within the host red blood cells." Research showed that parasites without the critical digestive enzyme "were significantly less virulent than their wild-type [define: normal] counterparts."

Furthermore, "infection with plasmepsin 4-deficient parasites, in contrast to infection with wild-type Plasmodium, did not induce cerebral complications", which means that infection with the weaker parasite produces a less severe illness than an ordinary malaria infection. Also, parasites without the digestive enzyme "induced strong protective immune responses against secondary immunization with wild-type Plasmodium." This weakened parasite may provide a model for comparing genetically-weakened malarial vaccines.

Dr. Crisanti and colleagues conclude that "it is possible, by engineered inactivation of parasite proteins, to generate attenuated blood stage parasites that are capable of inducing protective immunity against blood-stage infection. Such parasites should be powerful tools in elucidating parasite-derived factors that cause severe disease and should provide additional insight into factors that are required to induce protective immunity."

Source:
American Journal of Pathology (2009, December 31). Weakened Plasmodium generates protective immunity. ScienceDaily. Retrieved January 3, 2010, from http://www.sciencedaily.com¬ /releases/2009/12/091230193211.htm

Call to action

"In this week's PLoS Medicine, the journal's editors call for concerted international action to address the crisis of malaria drug shortages across Africa." Compared to activism for many other causes, anti-malaria offensives are still developing to find novel ways to fight the disease. Editors reveal the signs of "an evolving 'malaria activism' (akin to AIDS activism)" (Public). "Probably no other disease in human history has been associated with social and political activism to the extent that the HIV epidemic has" (AIDS Activism). "Such activism played a huge role in reducing the costs of antiretroviral drugs in developing countries" (PLoS). Five years ago, a strong voice "argued that similar activism was needed to raise awareness of shortfalls in global efforts to control malaria" (Yarney). "We believe there are now signs of an evolving "malaria activism," which has resulted in two major successes" (PLoS). These outspoken agents assert that two waves of malaria activism have already occurred, and that we stand on the break of a third wave which will help deliver life-saving drugs to those who need them.

According to the medical journal, the "first wave of malaria activism highlighted the gap between the huge burden of malaria and the tiny amount of international development assistance dedicated to its control. Such advocacy helped motivate donors to increase their malaria commitments." The second wave of activism "focused on making sure that the extra funding was used to purchase" combination therapy drugs (like artemisinin combination therapies) that are more effective in Africa than single drug therapies (like cholorquine).
"These are big victories," the editors declare. "But one benchmark of successful ACT [Artemisinin Combination Therapy] scale-up is whether the drugs are available at the point of care. One of us has just returned from a health reporting fellowship in East Africa, where he found that ACT 'stock-outs' (shortages) were common." This crisis is due in part to "inadequate funding" to purchase the necessary combination therapies, "delays in procuring the drug, and weak health information systems that can't properly track national drug needs and flows".
The editors of the medical journal call for action. It is time for a third wave of activism. This new wave will raise awareness of the shortages of necessary drugs in regions of the world where they are desperately needed.

Sources:
AIDS Activism. http://www.albany.edu/sph/AIDS/activists.html

PLoS. "Time for a Third Wave of Malaria Activism." http://www.plosmedicine.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pmed.1000188

Public Library of Science. "It's Time for a 'Third Wave' of Malaria Activism to Tackle Drug Shortages." ScienceDaily 23 November 2009. 24 November 2009 .

Yarney, G. "Roll Back Malaria." http://www.plosmedicine.org/article/findArticle.action?author=Yamey&title=Roll%20Back%20Malaria:%20A%20failing%20global%20health%20campaign.

New Moon -- The Twilight Saga

Hold on to your teeth, Ana Revenant is writing a blog article about New Moon. You should ask yourself: why? Then, you should realize that malaria must be involved.

Congratulations, you've cracked the code. I will do almost anything to raise awareness of the threat of malaria...even if that means promoting glittering vampires.

Malaria No More, a non-profit organization that provides malaria awareness education and relief, "is offering Twilight fans the chance to win two tickets to the early and exclusive New York City Press Screening of 'The Twilight Saga: New Moon' Wednesday, November 18th at Lincoln Center".

Excerpts from Malaria No More about their contest:

On Facebook, the contest is to recruit the most friends to join the Malaria No More Twilight Causes Page. The "Top Recruiter" will be notified via a private Facebook message. Malaria No More Causes Page: http://apps.facebook.com/causes/399734

On Twitter, the contest is to create a catchy tweet that relates a malarial mosquito to a vampire, and includes the hashtag #MNMBLOOD. The person that tweets the most interesting relationship in 140 characters and with the hashtag will be notified with a direct message. Twitter: http://twitter.com/

More information can be found on the Malaria No More blog page: http://malarianomore.org/blog/?p=2099

Enjoy the contest, and be warned: I may be lurking outside the movie theater waiting to dine on the well-marinated dinner entrees that walk into my arms. Ciao!

The Democratic Republic of the Congo

"The people of the Democratic Republic of the Congo desperately need help. People are dying every day from diseases we can prevent and treat" (WHO, Donor). Malaria is one of the biggest killers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (formerly known as Zaire). "Health experts estimate that each child under five years of age in DRC has 6 to 10 attacks of malaria per year. This is equivalent to as many as 100 million episodes, or even more, annually. Approximately 180,000 Congolese children under five die from the disease every year, and many others are orphaned when malaria weakens and kills their parents" (Gilliam).

"In less than five years, more than 3 million people have died - most from preventable and treatable diseases. The public health infrastructure is virtually broken down. The risk of epidemics remains high. Without international support to restore basic health care services, the humanitarian crisis in the Democratic Republic of the Congo will only continue to worsen" (WHO, Donor). The country's health system "is severely weakened with insufficient capacity to meet the needs of the population...In many areas, the health system functions as if it were private and patients cannot afford to seek assistance. Numerous private pharmacies provide drugs of dubious quality." Furthermore, most "health workers have not received salaries...for decades. Doctors have left the periphery and gone to the cities or to international agencies for employment...The health worker education system does not function anymore, and there are concerns about the staff qualifications" (WHO, Country).

Current estimates report that "6 out of 10 children do not reach their 5th birthday" (WHO, Donor). "Malaria (P. Falciparum) is endemic" in the country "and is accountable for 45% of childhood mortality. Children under five, of whom only an estimated 0.7% sleep under an insecticide-treated net, suffer from six to ten malaria-related fever episodes each year" (WHO, Country).

"With the rainy season just days away, UNICEF, along with partners including UNITAID and the World Food Program, is mobilizing the distribution of some 5.5 million mosquito bed nets in DRC. Each has been treated with insecticide and can help reduce the risk of contracting malaria for those who sleep under them at night" (Gilliam).

The people of the Democratic Republic of the Congo need your help. While Non-governmental organizations and charities are donating and distributing mosquito nets to the country, the need is still great. Visit one of the sites below for information on how you can help send mosquito nets to people in need in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Also, visit our Help Us page for information on how you can help Infectious Bite raise malaria awareness.

Links:
Malaria No More
Netting Nations

Sources:
Gilliam, Eva. UNICEF. "Malaria campaign underway in Democratic Republic of Congo" 5 October 2009.

WHO. Country Profile: DRC. http://www.who.int/hac/crises/cod/drc_profile_dec08.pdf
WHO. Photo Gallery. [Photo]
WHO. Donor Profile: DRC. http://www.who.int/hac/donorinfo/campaigns/cod/en/

Hispaniola

The island of Hispaniola is the home to the countries of Haiti and the Dominican Republic. It is also one of the few remaining regions in the Caribbean with endemic malaria.



"In September 2008, The Carter Center, in partnership with the Dominican Republic and Haiti, launched a historic one-year initiative to help the two countries and their other partners accelerate the elimination of two devastating mosquito-borne infections--malaria and lymphatic filariasis--from Hispaniola" (Carter). "Lymphatic Filariasis, known as Elephantiasis, puts at risk more than a billion people in more than 80 countries. Over 120 million have already been affected by it, over 40 million of them are seriously incapacitated and disfigured by the disease." Like malaria, lymphatic filariasis is caused by a blood parasite that is "transmitted by mosquitoes" (WHO).

"The leaders of Haiti and the Dominican Republic agreed Thursday to cooperate in a campaign aimed at eradicating the last vestiges of malaria from the islands of the Caribbean by 2020. What remains uncertain is how to fund the roughly $250 million effort, which also aims to eliminate lymphatic filariasis, on the two-nation island of Hispaniola" (Bluestein). Although the cost of eradication is high, it is diminutive when compared with the long-term economic damage that is caused by these parasites. "Malaria and lymphatic filariasis are costly economic burdens, as both diseases are caused by--and create--additional poverty. An outbreak of malaria on the island in 2004 cost the Dominican Republic an estimated US $200 million in lost revenue from tourism. Since then, two transient outbreaks of malaria in the Bahamas and another in Jamaica have been imported from Hispaniola, which also is the source of several cases of malaria imported to the U.S. each year" (Carter).

Sources:
Image: Filariasis parasite. Wikimedia Commons.
Bluestein, Greg. "Hispaniola leaders aim to eradicate malaria". Associated Press. 10 October 2009.
Carter Center, The. "The Hispaniola Initiative." http://www.cartercenter.org/health/hispaniola-initiative/index.html
WHO: World Health Organization. Lymphatic Filariasis

Popcorn parasite

Who would have thought that infecting "mosquitoes with a bacterial parasite could help prevent the spread" of blood parasites like malaria and lymphatic filariasis? If you guessed that it might, then you are either clever or very well-informed. For the rest of us, it is an exciting idea that may aid in "the control of...mosquito-borne parasites" (Wellcome).

Researchers have infected mosquitoes with a strain of Wolbachia, which is a bacterial parasite that infects insects and other arthropod species (Werren). The strain known as wMelPop, and nicknamed 'popcorn', can halve the lifespan of infected mosquitoes. "Mosquito-borne parasites such as the filarial nematode or the malaria parasite require an incubation period between ingestion and transmission, so only older mosquitoes" are "infective. Skewing the mosquito population towards younger individuals reduces the number of infectious insects." In the case of lymphatic filariasis, a parasitic worm that is transmitted by mosquitoes, wMelPop has also been shown to encourage "the mosquito's immune system to attack" the parasite that it hosts (Wellcome).

The 'Popcorn' strain may reduce the number of mosquitoes and the likelihood that they will transmit a parasite that is deadly to humans. Researchers are "currently looking at whether infecting other species of mosquito, such as Anopheles gambiae - the mosquito responsible for the majority of malaria infections - with wMelPop will have a similar effect and help inhibit malaria transmission as well as filariasis transmission."


Sources:

Kambris Z et al. Immune activation by life-shortening Wolbachia and reduced filarial competence in mosquitoes. Science 2009.

Wellcome Trust (2009, October 2). Parasite Bacteria May Help Fight Spread Of Mosquito-borne Diseases. ScienceDaily. Retrieved October 4, 2009, from http://www.sciencedaily.com­ /releases/2009/10/091001163601.htm

Werren, J.H.; Guo, L; Windsor, D. W. (1995). "Distribution of Wolbachia in neotropical arthropods". Proc. R. Soc. London Ser. B 262: 147–204.

African Leaders Malaria Alliance

"Malaria is one of the biggest killers of African children." Recently, "African leaders have begun an ambitious program to eliminate nearly all malaria deaths in Africa over the next six years." Initiated by Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete, the African Leaders Malaria Alliance was established "to streamline the procurement and distribution of control and treatment methods while keeping the disease high on the international development agenda" (Scott). "The international community has already donated more than $3 billion to the project, the BBC reports, adding, "The money will pay for the distribution of 240 million insecticide-treated bed nets throughout sub-Saharan Africa by the end of next year" (Nyaria).

"Africa is the continent most affected by malaria, accounting for 86 percent of all cases and 91 percent of all malaria deaths worldwide" (Henry). The statistics are sobering. "Nearly twenty percent of African women who die in childbirth" suffer "from malaria. It accounts for one-quarter of all deaths of children under five" (Scott). Every year, nearly a million people die.

The goal of the alliance "is to provide universal access to malaria control methods to all at-risk Africans by the end of next year in hopes of eliminating all preventable malaria deaths by 2015" (Scott). Ray Chambers, the Secretary General's Special Envoy for Malaria, says, "This is a massive undertaking unlike anything that has ever been done before."

Sources:
Associated Press. (via VOAnews.com) [Photo]

Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. "African Leaders Malaria Alliance Launched At U.N. General Assembly." Medical News Today. 29 Sept 2009.

Nyaria, Sandra. "African Leaders in Alliance to End Malaria Deaths on Continent By 2015." VOAnews.com. 23 Sept 2009.

Stearns, Scott. "African Leaders Fight Malaria." VOAnews.com. http://www.voanews.com/english/2009-09-22-voa52.cfm?rss=topstories. 29 Sept 2009.

Infectious Bite needs your help

I'm pleased to tell you that recently Infectious Bite has received many emails from individuals who wish to help spread awareness about malaria. To those individuals: I sincerely thank you.
Infectious Bite is an awareness and education organization. You can show your support and deliver pertinent information about malaria to the public by adding one of these notes to your profile page or website. [Single click to view image. Right click, & save.]

A single dose of malaria medication costs approximately 13 cents. Unfortunately, infected individuals can often not afford or find the necessary medication. $10 buys and delivers a bed net (through MalariaNoMore, NothingButNets, or the CDC Foundation), which can protect two children nightly, and prevent them from contracting malaria.		There are 350-500 Million cases of malaria annually. Each year, there are about 1 Million deaths. Most of the dead are children and pregnant women.
Show your support and encourage action with this simple note.		It is estimated that Africa's annual GDP would increase by $100 Billion if malaria were eradicated. Malaria is not just a health problem, it is also an economic drain.

Malaria kills 350-500 million people each year. Per day, there are 2700 malaria-related deaths. This is a global health concern of massive proportions.
Malaria is a disease that infects all areas of life. The economies of malaria-laden countries suffers from a reduced or disabled workforce and high mortality rate. It is estimated that Africa's GDP would be $100 Billion dollars greater (annually) if malaria were eradicated.

You can also spread awareness about the devastation of malaria by purchasing and wearing an Infectious Bite t-shirt. Profits support our educational events and go to malaria relief.


We appreciate all offers for help. With your help we can bite malaria back.