Malaria as a case study
- Endemic disease
- Malaria is an endemic disease meaning it has be constantly present in a country or area
- The problems of treating any endemic disease are
- The disease is widespread so any eradication programme will cover a large area
- Difficult to track down and remove sources of infection
- Requires cooperation from numerous communities to treat
- Costs a lot of money to control
- Treatment of malaria
- Limited treatments for malaria; include quinine, chloroquinine and artemisinin but have to be given quickly after infection
- People travelling to areas with endemic malaria are advised to take anti-malarial medicines
- Malarial parasite is developing resistance to relatively cheap drugs
- Sure be treated with a combination of drugs
- Prevention and control of malaria
- Yet to be an economic vaccine
- It is hidden from the immune system which makes it harder to create a vaccine
- Avoiding contact with mosquitoes
- Have mosquito screens on doors and windows
- Sleep under mosquito nets (ideally impregnated with insecticide)
- Wear long sleeve clothes and cover skin as much as possible
- Preventing mosquitoes breeding
- The lifecycle of mosquitos takes place mainly in water
- Remove possible breeding sites (stagnant water)
- Proper disposal of sewage so that water is not left standing
- Biological control, seeding local water supplies with organisms that feed on mosquito larvae
- Chemical control – spray water sources with pesticides which kills the eggs
- Implications of malaria
- Social; people have to be persuaded to change their behaviour to reduce risks
- Economic; the treatment, control and prevention of endemic diseases all involve substantial economic investment. You have to weigh the benefits against the costs
- Ethical; treating the disease often raises ethical issues, there are issues of informed consent in medical trials and different countries have different cultures. It is good practice to explain risks and the process. It also important to consider who gets the vaccine first
- The role of the scientific community
- The validation of different approaches to the control of this disease
- Data is used by the WHO to produce guidelines
- Help with earlier diagnosis of the disease allowing anti-virals to be used
- More efficient diagnosis, allowing cheaper ways to diagnose the disease
- Guidelines for antibiotic use
- What things can be done to prevent the disease
- More efficient prevention against disease; nets
- Monitor resistance and creation of new drugs