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Reuters UK: Map study finds vivax malaria has firm grip in Asia
Reuters UK: MAP ( Oxford's Malaria Atlas Project (MAP) study.) December 5, 2011

Progress is being made in the fight against the most common form of malaria in Africa, but a long-lasting type of the mosquito-borne parasitic disease has a tight grip on swathes of South Asia and parts of Latin America, scientists said on Monday. In a new global map of the plasmodium vivax malaria parasite, researchers from Oxford University found the disease which is often recurring and can be deadly is endemic in substantial parts of the world. This map helps us understand just how difficult it is going to be to eradicate malaria," said Peter Gething, who led Oxford's Malaria Atlas Project (MAP) study. "Unfortunately, the tools for fighting this type of malaria range from ineffective to non-existent." Vivax is not as deadly as the Plasmodium falciparum malaria parasite that is most common in Africa and causes most of the around 800,000 malaria deaths a year, but it is more common with some 2.85 billion people across the world at risk. It also has a unique ability to relapse by hiding in the liver for months or years, making it harder to detect and cure. Among hotspots for vivax malaria highlighted by MAP team are substantial parts of India, including major urban areas like Mumbai, where malaria was previously uncommon. In the Americas, the area of greatest concern is a large but sparsely populated part of the Northern Amazon, most of which is in Brazil, but the hotspot also includes parts of Peru, Colombia and Venezuela.

VIVAX CAN KILL TOO

Kevin Baird, who works with the Eijkman-Oxford clinical research unit in Indonesia, said it is becoming increasingly clear that vivax is more of a threat than previously thought. A few years ago, he said, the consensus view was that vivax gave patients soaring fevers and severe chills, but was rarely fatal. Now that is starting to change. "We are beginning to suspect...vivax is killing people at far higher rates than anyone...thought even remotely possible," Baird said in a statement. "We still have very little data on this issue, but what data we do have worries me a great deal." See the entire article: Reuters UK : Map, vivax malaria study

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