Malaria: keeping the mosquitoes at bay
Harries, A.D.
Lancet 342(8870): 506-507
1993
ISSN/ISBN: 0140-6736 PMID: 8102660 DOI: 10.1016/0140-6736(93)91639-4Document Number: 328142
There are currently an estimated 300 million clinical cases of malaria, resulting in nearly 3.5 million deaths, each year. Since the dream of eliminating malaria with DDT disappeared in the 1950's, the aim is now to minimise serious morbidity and mortality. This currently relies upon the use of antimalarial drugs for treatment and prevention, and on the reduction of man/mosquito contact, for example by the use of bed nets. Conventional bed nets are ineffective at reducing clinical episodes of malaria in rural communities, however their protective efficacy can be increased by impregnation with synthetic pyrethroid agents such as permethrin. The author comments on the Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, 1993, 87(suppl 2), 1, edited by B.M. Greenwood and J.R. Baker, which describes a malaria control trial in The Gambia, which tested the efficacy of insectide-treated bed nets and targeted chemoprophylaxis in a rural area. Bed nets were found to be a highly cost effective method of preventing mortality due to malaria, while chemoprophylaxis reduced the number of clinical epsiodes of malaria. Trials are currently in progress in other African countries.Ruth Gilbert There are currently an estimated 300 million clinical cases of malaria, resulting in nearly 3.5 million deaths, each year. Since the dream of eliminating malaria with DDT disappeared in the 1950s, the aim is now to minimise serious morbidity and mortality. This currently relies upon the use of antimalarial drugs for treatment and prevention, and on the reduction of man/mosquito contact, for example by the use of bed nets. Conventional bed nets are ineffective at reducing clinical episodes of malaria in rural communities, however their protective efficacy can be increased by impregnation with synthetic pyrethroid agents such as permethrin. The author comments on the Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, 87 (Supplement 2), edited by B.M. Greenwood & J.R. Baker (1993), which describes a malaria control trial in The Gambia, which tested the efficacy of insecticide-treated bed nets and targeted chemoprophylaxis in a rural area. Bed nets were found to be a highly cost effective method of preventing mortality due to malaria, while chemoprophylaxis reduced the number of clinical episodes of malaria.
Document emailed within 0-6 h
