December 29, 2005
Malaria undercover
Malaria infects up to 5 million Ethiopians every year, most of them children under five, according to UNICEF [PDF]. Here is how it is getting away with it.
Scientists lift malaria's cloak of invisibility - Howard Hughes Medical Institute Dec 28The world's deadliest malaria parasite, Plasmodium falciparum, sneaks past the human immune system with the help of a wardrobe of invisibility cloaks. If a person's immune cells learn to recognize one of the parasite's many camouflage proteins, the surviving invaders can swap disguises and slip away again to cause more damage.
It is currently boom time for malaria researchers like the Howard Hughes Medical Institute - thanks to the billions of dollars flowing into the field from Bill Gates, the Global Fund and co.
At the moment, the scientists seem to be spending a lot of that money on calling malaria names - finding news ways to describe just how sneaky it is. Above, we have malaria as the master of disguise. A few days ago, boffins from India and France were calling it a blood cell-busting sneak thief. This time last year, malaria was the interior designer from hell. More recently, we have discovered its ability to beat the strongest anti-malaria drug on the market, its undermining of Africans' natural defences against infection and its new alliance with HIV/Aids.
A quick scan through the invaluable EurekaAlert shows that there is also lots of positive research going on. Apparently, we could have something like an effective vaccine as early as 2015.
Posted by aheavens at December 29, 2005 7:33 AM
Comments
Hi Andrew,
Happy New Year! Lately it seems like you are engaged in apolotical stories. I wish your old self could come back. Anyway thank you for the information in 2005 and wih you a happy new year. Success and prosperity be upon you and your family in the new year. Rgrds
Posted by: dan at December 29, 2005 7:55 PM
Its good news that a proper vaccine is on the way!
Posted by: jamal at December 30, 2005 2:17 AM
its good news that an effective vaccine is on the way.
Posted by: jamal at December 30, 2005 2:19 AM
Trust me, the scientists involved in this research are not just sitting around coming up with nifty analogies, contra your statement above. Besides, metaphors are cheap (as well you should know), so it's not like they eat up a lot of the research budget in any case. The challenge is to explain the science to journalists who typically have no science background. Thus the efforts to describe malaria in simple terms. Even if a researcher spends an hour describing the "hard science" of the research, and a few seconds saying "interior designer from hell" ... guess what most journalists are going to lead with? So don't blame the researchers. Especially since almost all of this research is being done in countries where malaria is not present, it's pretty altruistic of them. Save your snide comments for a more deserving target. And sorry that science can't always produce instant cures fast enough to keep you happy.
Posted by: A Researcher at December 30, 2005 5:37 PM
I have long wondered why HIV infection rates are so much higher in sub saharan Africa - interaction from malaria looks like a likely reason. I shall have to get my science reading head on...
Posted by: Duncan at January 4, 2006 1:48 PM