More unreasoning hostility to insects
I do like insects, mostly. Just not leafcutter ants and malaria-carrying mosquitos. Dr. Stephen Hoffman of Rockville, Maryland, has developed the first really promising malaria vaccine, which with luck will be in production in four years or so. It suffers from the disadvantage that it requires five intravenous doses and must be refrigerated in transit, but it's a lot better than the nothing we had before. While we're on the subject, here is some amazing video of a mosquito's "needle" rooting around for a blood vessel under the skin.
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2 comments:
Heh. I always think I've finally gotten every possible vaccine known to man, when...
It sound like this vaccine is less toxic than previous efforts. Good news, though not yet ready for the mass campaigns.
When some US marines went to Liberia, several came down with malaria. They weren't taking their malaria suppressants. One of the few that still works (mefloquine) can cause paranoia and hallucinations--they may have figured it was safer to risk the disease than keep taking the drug.
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