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Tanzania fact of the day
This is scary, no? I've got my DEET and my pills:
Every year, 14 million to 18 million new malaria cases are reported in Tanzania, and 100,000–125,000 deaths occur. Of those deaths, 70,000–80,000 occur in children less than five years of age. The annual incidence rate is between 400 and 500 per 1,000 people, and this number doubles for children less than five years of age. These high rates imply multiple episodes of malaria in a single year for many individuals. The annual mortality rate is 141–650 per 100,000 people, increasing to 300–1,600 per 100,000 for children 0–4 years of age. Malaria is the leading cause of outpatients, deaths of hospitalized people, and admissions of children less than five years of age at medical facilities. As a result, it is considered the major cause for the loss of economic productivity of those between 15 and 55 years old, and an impediment to the learning capacity of people between 5 and 25 years of age.
Here is the link.
Posted by Tyler Cowen on May 11, 2007 at 07:19 AM in Medicine | Permalink
Comments
It screams out for DDT. ;-(
Posted by: Anon at May 11, 2007 8:06:30 AM
Unless, that is, the mosquitoes are now DDT-resistant.
Posted by: nt at May 11, 2007 9:54:01 AM
The mosquitos are not DDT resistant.
DDT would not be used as it was in the sixties (i.e. no mass spraying). It would be used to soak mosquito nets and to fumigate housing.
Posted by: Buzzcut at May 11, 2007 10:04:44 AM
DDT-ban did a job on me
Now I am a real sickie
Guess I'll have to break the news
That I got no mind to lose
All the skeeters are in love with me
I'm a teenage malaria-ee
Skeets and gnats are after me
DDT-ban keeps them happy
Now I guess I'll have to tell 'em
That I got no hemoglobin
Gonna get my DDT
I'm a teenage malaria-ee
Posted by: Anon E. Mouse at May 11, 2007 10:25:28 AM
The population of this country is about 38 million. 18 million new cases
per year is 21% of the total. The entire country would be infected in just
a few years. I think their numbers are unlikely to be accurate.
Posted by: auntulna at May 11, 2007 10:28:32 AM
Having worked in Sierra Leone in a clinical laboratory, I think their numbers *are* likely to be accurate. People get malaria over and over. The chloroquine cures you, assuming you can get it, but if you don't have mosquito nets or take the chloroquine as a prophylactic, you just get it again.
Posted by: Dennis Mangan at May 11, 2007 11:07:48 AM
I, too, question the accuracy of the claim. And while I get a slightly
higher percentatge than auntulna (18/38 = 47%), even allowing for the
growth rate of 2.091% cited in the CIA factbook (and you can question
the that source, if you like - but one must start somewhere); everyone
in the country would be infected within three years.
Posted by: Tim at May 11, 2007 12:14:54 PM
When Gates Foundation gave grants for malaria related research,
critics said that they were diverting resources from aids reseach.Aids kill far less than malaria.And not only in Tanzania
Posted by: Mja at May 11, 2007 1:14:00 PM
While malaria may be scary, (prophylactic) pills are not so good for you either. Calculate that cost-benefit carefully...
Posted by: David Zetland at May 11, 2007 1:33:30 PM
It is very likely the numbers are correct, or close to correct. The so-called reductios are in fact the reality.
Posted by: Tyler Cowen at May 11, 2007 1:34:58 PM
Holy Crap! I'm going there in July ON VACATION. and i'm taking my future ex-wife with me. should be fun.
Posted by: Kevin at May 11, 2007 3:18:04 PM
DDT wiped out malaria in this country and may be able to do the same in Africa. It is "the cure" for malaria.
I'm not sure of the specific numbers in the article, but I suspect that they are accurate (or close enough). http://www.cdc.gov/malaria/ has more information. Malaria kills more than a million people around the world each year, predominantly in Africa. Nonetheless, AIDS is a bigger killer. It is responsible for the deaths of about 3 million people a year globally.
Posted by: Darin Morley at May 11, 2007 5:43:10 PM
It's not that hard to believe the (mean) average person there gets malaria every two years. Did someone miss "These high rates imply multiple episodes of malaria in a single year for many individuals"? Plenty of people likely go, oh, five to ten years between infections.
The mortality figures are less frightening to me because so many of them are under five; I'm not under five, so I figure those more or less don't count.
Posted by: dWj at May 11, 2007 9:24:31 PM
Needs a Mussolini, they don't seem to organize themselves very well.
Posted by: adrian at May 12, 2007 7:33:40 AM
It looks like some people are under the impression that there is a ban on DDT or that it isn't used for malaria control. Although politics and attempts to extract bribes can certainly interfere with disease control efforts, no country I am aware of has a ban on the use of DDT to control malaria. It is the agricultural use of DDT that is typically restricted or controlled and this restriction improves the effectiveness of DDT used to control malaria. This is because the agricultural use of DDT can expose the entire population of disease carrying mosquitoes to it and so places strong selective pressure on the development of DDT resistance. DDT used to control malaria generally only affects a small portion of the population of mosquitoes and so they are much less likely to develop resistance. DDT used to control malaria is typically sprayed in people’s dwellings.
Posted by: Ronald Brak at May 12, 2007 7:49:26 AM
