Published Date: 1996-04-05 23:50:00
Subject: PROMED: Malaria - India, 1995 (5)
Archive Number: 19960405.0652

From: jsslobel@pipeline.com (J. Scott Schlieman)
Date: Fri, 5 Apr 1996 13:48:34 -0500

MALARIA - INDIA, 1995 (5)
=========================
For subscriber's reference, the following article, written by Sanjay
Sharma, appears in the 30 March 1996 issue of NewScientist (Vol. 149, No.
2023): (IPC Magazines Ltd. England, part of Reed Publishing Europe)

/// Beginning of article ///

"Resistant malaria plagues India"

India's malaria problem has been seriously underestimated, according to
experts at a global meeting on parasitic diseases in Delhi last week. Mass
spraying of the countryside, the traditional weapon in the war against
malaria, is no longer working because mosquitoes have become resistant to
most of the available insecticides.

The experts are urging Indian authorities to use a combination of new
methods to control the spread of the disease. Some experiments have
already been remarkably successful, such as stocking ponds and other pools
of still water with fish that feed on mosquito larvae. They also recommend
using oil from the leaves of the neem tree, a natural pesticide, and
pyrethroid-treated bednets as repellants. "The situation is already out of
hand and if corrective steps are neglected it will deteriorate much
further," warns Vinod Prakash Sharma, director of the Malaria Research
Centre in Delhi.

The government estimates that 2 million people in India catch the disease
each year, but Sharma claims the real figure could be as high as 30
million. The parasites are resistant to an increasing number of drugs, and
there are now several distinct forms of the disease. In addition, the
proportion of infections by Plasmodium falciparum, a more lethal parasite
than the P. vivax usually found in India, has risen from 10 percent in the
1970s to nearly 40 percent today.

The experts lament the diminishing armoury of weapons available to them for
fighting the disease. "There has been a decreased emphasis on designing
new drugs," says Ruth Nussenzweig of New York University Medical Center.
She claims the drugs industry is reluctant to spend money on research
because new drugs quickly become redundant.

/// END OF ARTICLE ///

--
J. Scott Schlieman
e-mail: jsslobel@pipeline.com
............................................................................

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