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everyclickmatters.com - The street-fighting legend takes on a leaf-eating menace. See the showdown. Seriously.
24 Comments
- dblespresso, on 04/21/2009, -0/+7"A child dies of malaria every 30 seconds in Africa." - How many would be prevented with the return of responsible DDT usage. FYI: The WHO has reveresed its position on the use of DDT in 2006.
- doctechnical, on 04/21/2009, -1/+6Millions, mostly children. Rachel Carson (may she burn in hell) wrote a ***** book that demonized one of the cheapest and most effective weapons against malaria the word had ever seen. Those deaths are on her hands.
- deeceeo, on 04/21/2009, -0/+5I got malaria a few times while working in Ghana. It sounds odd because it obviously can kill, but it's usually not a big deal - you take the treatment and you're back to work in a day or two. Similar overall to getting the flu, unless you're very young, very old or pregnant. Most people (if they can afford it) just get over-the-counter artemisinin without ever going to the hospital.
I think the other part of this, specifically because of the situation, is training. I don't know what organization he went with or if he was there alone, but I hope he was given enough of a description to recognize the signs and take the artemisinin just in case (sounds like he brought some back from Ghana, because you can't get it in the U.S. or Canada). Then again, maybe he knew and just misdiagnosed himself; I was oblivious the first time.
My heart goes out to his family. - jmark13, on 04/21/2009, -0/+5When I first read the title, I thought he was fighting Malaria IN his memory. I was wondering if science had progressed so far this fast. But yes, touching story.
- 6oo63D, on 04/21/2009, -0/+5Malaria? Aah, the white man's curse. I live in Nigeria (and I work as a doctor) and I sometimes get the feeling that malaria is more of a syndrome than a disease. I mean it can present in almost in any way, in any organ system, and that is why it is probably overdiagnosed.
That said, the fact is most of the cases of so-called 'resistant' malaria might not be due to the plasmodium but other conditions, which if not recognized early, progress to fit into the malaria profile; an abstract clinical picture that a doctor in the west would call someother disease.
It's pretty much a fix, you can have the parasite in high titres and not have malaria; you can have undetectable levels of this hemoparasite and die of malaria. So we continue to blindly whack eveyone who presents with fever and/or cough and/or diarrhea with antimalarials. But then, that pretty much is medicine everywhere... fighting bugs the same way the cave man fought nature for thousands of years. - WinkyMcGee, on 04/21/2009, -0/+4Holy Passive Voice Batman!
- MrInfallible, on 04/21/2009, -0/+4Thats intense dude, how did you catch it?
- iamnotyou, on 04/20/2009, -0/+4A touching story for sure. Thanks for sharing.
- Testies, on 04/21/2009, -0/+4My wife and I went to Ghana few years ago and spent some time in Cape Coast. Wonderful place and whole country is great.
That said, as a westerner that is there for a short period of time, taking prophylaxis is a no brainer but you still want to be vigilant and sleep under the nets and try to avoid wearing antiperspirants and strong perfumes.
Problem is the locals can not afford the anti-malarials and even if they did, some of the medicine out there starts messing with your brain after a while. People there just accept it as a part of life and they try their best to avoid it.
Touching story but I would not want it to scare off anyone who ever wanted to go to Africa, especially Ghana.
Be vigilant and monitor yourself for any symptoms. And drink lot's of water.
- thebloodvayne, on 04/21/2009, -0/+4This is a very sad fact indeed. I'm usually what you would call an environmentalist, but sacrificing a great prevention method against malaria for some eagles? *****.
- screamlab, on 04/21/2009, -0/+3I did some volunteer teaching in Cape Coast (at Adisadel College) in '95. Ghana is an incredible country, with wonderful people.
I had a great time... and I also got malaria.
In my case, it developed after my return to Canada (and a negative Malaria test).
I was sick for three weeks before someone thought to do a second malaria test (it had been ruled out due to first test).
No fun at all, and very scary.
Lesson learned? Take your prophylaxis as directed, even after departing a malarial region. - inactive, on 04/21/2009, -0/+3DDT reduced Malaria by millions.
- jellygraph, on 04/21/2009, -0/+3I had malaria once (and the relapse not long after). I survived (obviously) and, I guess the best thing was that I don't remember anything.
- wilf_brim, on 04/21/2009, -0/+2I feel badly for his mother, but somebody dying of malaria (when prevention and treatment were available), well, that is a total waste.
- davidpm, on 04/21/2009, -0/+2I'm on my way to the north of Ghana in about 8 weeks. I'm still in the process of getting vaccinations and medications to take with me. This story definitely drove home the point to be safe and not believe that I'm invincible to these diseases.
- nepidae, on 04/21/2009, -0/+2This sounds like a case of hair-graft-versus-host disease.
- ajde, on 04/21/2009, -0/+2Take your malaria pills, bring some extra (for a friend or for yourself, you never know) as well as antibiotics for gastro-intestinal illnesses/parasites (at least one round, if not two) and another general antibiotic (to cure, for example, a severe sinus infection). Get your vaccinations (early, no less than 2-4 weeks before so they're fully effective) and bring TONS of pepto-bismol/tums/immodium with you (all come in tablet form). Don't forget hydrocortizone cream (bug bites and weird things your skin isn't used to) and an ACE-wrap bandage. On just a month-long trip my friend needed most of my pepto-bismol/immodium, I needed my general antibiotic (for strep contracted at home) and kept my foot wrapped for weeks cause I twisted it, and we both needed the hydrocortizone cream daily.
It can be a pain but you'll never be sorry if you have it handy when you or somebody else needs it. - s0nicfreak, on 04/21/2009, -0/+1Because you get to decide which lives matter.
- whorunbartertwn, on 04/21/2009, -0/+1I'd certainly take the meds if I was traveling there. We have skipped 'em on trips thruout Asia, with the exception of India where we dutifully took 'em. No question in West Africa.
This story reminds me of that woman who died in Ohio, same situation got back from Ghana and got sick:
http://www.daytondailynews.com/project/content/pro ... - inactive, on 04/21/2009, -0/+1So let me get this straight.. I'm supposed to feel sorry for some uneducated Brit who goes off to Malaria ridden parts of Africa without taking the proper medication.. ???
- inactive, on 04/21/2009, -0/+1My Grandad caught malaria when in the Far East during the Second World War. The only treatment then was quinine (sp?) and he had recurring bouts for years.
- ajde, on 04/21/2009, -0/+1I know a British guy living in Guatemala who's gotten malaria 4 times, even though he was taking anti-malarial tablets consistently each time. I'd guess some people are just more susceptible to it. Just get yourself ready when traveling to exotic locales - vaccines and preventative meds exist for a reason, and my ass was probably saved by having some antibiotics handy since I unknowingly contracted strep throat at home, and the red spots showed up on my throat, chest and fingers the second day of my vacation. I could have been extremely sick without them, not to mention all the people I could have exposed to strep if I had stayed sick.
It really is a shame that this guy died so young doing something good for others. RIP - joshuacapehart, on 04/21/2009, -0/+0Indeed it did; Rachel Carson is up on my list of some of the worst people of all time.
- joshuacapehart, on 04/21/2009, -0/+0At my University library, since it is Women's history month, has a little shrine to Carson in the foyer; it is sickening. If I where a woman, I sure as hell would not want to be associated with someone responsible for the deaths of many many thousands.
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