Abstract: Different challenges are presented by the variety of malaria transmission environments present in the world today. In each setting, improved control for reduction of morbidity is a necessary first step towards the long-range goal of malaria eradication and a priority for regions where the disease burden is high.
For many geographic areas where transmission rates are low to moderate, sustained and well-managed application of currently available tools may be sufficient to achieve local elimination. The research needs for these areas will be to sustain and perhaps improve the effectiveness of currently available tools. For other low-to-moderate transmission regions, notably areas where the vectors exhibit behaviours such as outdoor feeding and resting that are not well targeted by current strategies, new interventions that target predictable features of the biology/ecologies of the local vectors will be required. To achieve elimination in areas where high levels of transmission are sustained by very efficient vector species, radically new interventions that significantly reduce the vectorial capacity of wild populations will be needed. Ideally, such interventions should be implemented with a one-time application with a long-lasting impact, such as genetic modification of the vectorial capacity of the wild vector population.
Citation: The malERA Consultative Group on Vector Control (2011) A Research Agenda for Malaria Eradication: Vector Control. PLoS Med 8(1): e1000401. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1000401
Published: January 25, 2011
Copyright: © 2011 The malERA Consultative Group on Vector Control. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Funding: malERA received a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
Competing interests: The authors have declared that they have no competing interests.
Abbreviations: GMEP, Global Malaria Eradication Program; IRS, indoor residual insecticide spray; LLIN, long-lasting insecticide-treated net; TPP, target product profile
Full listing of the members of the malERA Consultative Group on Vector Control can be found in the Acknowledgments.
Provenance: Submitted as part of a Supplement; externally peer reviewed.
More information:
Full Report – A Research Agenda for Malaria Eradication: Vector Control (PDF)
Please send me more information on Mararia treatment, and other sources of care particularly in the dietary department. I believe that over several years from my childhood, and presently now from different diagnoses of High Pressure to signs of diabetes, reading, eyesight, hearing lose to chronic pain. I’m 43 years of age now and has just discovered what I know is symptoms of some form of malaria infection. My children have been affected as well and I think it goes beyond that.
If I understand your comment correctly, you believe that symptoms which you have been experiencing for some time, indeed since childhood, may be linked to long-term malaria infections, and you believe your children might be affected as well. First of all, it is very easy to get tested and treated for malaria, so that should be the first thing you do. Your doctor, or a local hospital or health clinic, should be able to do a blood test which will confirm whether you (and your children) have an active malaria infection. It is important to remember that malaria cannot be transmitted directly between people (it requires being bitten by an infected mosquito) so even if you test positive for malaria it does not mean your children will also be infected. If you are found to be infected, then the doctor will be able to give you medication that will kill the malaria parasites. If you indeed have had on-going episodes of malaria infections over a number of years, it may be that you have one of the two types of malaria that can relapse. These two types are called Plasmodium vivax and Plasmodium ovale (as opposed to Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium malariae, which cannot be dormant in your body for very long), and may require that you take another type of medication to ensure that no more dormant forms of the malaria parasite remain in your body.
Having said all that, long term, lasting effects from malaria infection are relatively rare, and especially if you have not experienced a severe malaria attack – mainly there are only symptoms during an active infection, when you will normally also experience fever, chills, nausea and other acute symptoms. There are cases of liver and spleen complications from chronic exposure to malaria in highly endemic areas, though I am not aware of any known impacts on the pancreas, or on sight or hearing. As such, I think when you go see your doctor or visit the hospital for a malaria test, you should also mention these other health problems, as I don’t think malaria can be responsible for all your symptoms. I hope this has been of some help!