Chikungunya - dengue's nasty cousin spreads

Chikungunya fever, like dengue, tortures sufferers with severe pain especially in the joints. Spread by the same mosquitoes that transmit dengue, it is common in Africa and Asia, but is now extending its presence alarmingly.

First detected in the Caribbean in December on St Martin, it has now spread to 15 other countries there. More than 4,500 cases have been confirmed, though health officials admit there may be thousands more. Haiti has more than 1,500 cases.

The disease probably crossed the ocean in the blood of an infected traveller. It has also reached French Guiana and Florida. Chikungunya is less lethal than dengue, but there are fears that it could leave victims with long-lasting arthritic pain in the joints.

Local people are being urged to get rid of puddles or containers holding water where mosquitoes thrive, while travellers are being told to wear long trousers, long-sleeved shirts and socks, and to use insect repellent. 

Malaria - a pugnacious parasite

New drug-resistant strains of the parasite that causes malaria have been identified in western Cambodia.    There have been reports of drug resistance in the region since 2008, and the problem has now spread to other parts of South-east Asia.

Scientists investigating the new organism say that all the most effective drugs developed in the last few decades ‘have been one by one rendered useless by the remarkable ability of this parasite to mutate and develop resistance.’   They do not know why this part of Cambodia should be such a hotbed of resistance.

In 2010, there were more than 200 million cases of malaria and 600,000 deaths – 90 per cent of them in Africa.   The World Health Organisation has made preventing the spread of resistant strains a major objective.  

See also my blogs of 11 April, 30 May, and 24 Sept, 2009; 21 Oct, 2010; 23 Sept, 2011 and 23 May, 2012.

*I’ve just started to post a series of videos on Britain’s 20 Worst Military Disasters.   This is the first -  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0Bgf-xHHGE

Fakes undermine fight against malaria

Recent successes in the fight against malaria are being undermined by the way counterfeit drugs have penetrated the supply chain in sub-Saharan Africa and south-east Asia.   American researchers examined 4,000 anti-malaria drug samples from 28 countries and found that a third were fake.

The problem is that not only do they fail to protect the people who take them, but they can also lead to resistant strains appearing, and the researchers think the problem may be even worse than their findings suggest.

Death rates from malaria have fallen by more than a quarter since 2000, but more than 3 billion people in 106 countries are still at risk, and up to 1.2 million die every year.

There has been concern in recent years over the emergence of resistance to the most effective drugs in western Cambodia.    (See also my blogs April 11, May 30, Sept 24, 2009 and Oct 21, 2010 and Sept 23, 2011.)