'Breakthrough' in deadly tropical disease

The Daily Telegraph ^ | December 25, 2009

[myknowledge]

QUEENSLAND researchers believe they have found a way to to control the spread of dengue fever, which afflicts more than 50 million people worldwide every year.

The team at the University of Queensland's (UQ) School of Biological Sciences, led by Professor Scott O'Neill, is investigating infecting mosquitoes that transmit dengue fever with a bacterium that shortens their lifespan, limiting their ability to infect humans with the dengue virus.

Professor O'Neill said this approach may be even more effective than first thought.

"In a surprising development we have found that mosquitoes carrying this bacterium - known as Wolbachia - are resistant to a range of pathogens that cause disease in humans including dengue, Chikungunya and malaria parasites," Professor O'Neill said.

[myknowledge]

Kudos to my country's scientists for producing a medical breakthrough to dengue fever. So much for ObamaCare, which will mean no profits for healthcare, which means no R & D of wonder drugs, new medicines, funding for quality care and well-trained doctors.

Dengue fever.

[Jemian]

"In a surprising development we have found that mosquitoes carrying this bacterium - known as Wolbachia - are resistant to a range of pathogens that cause disease in humans including dengue, Chikungunya and malaria parasites," Professor O'Neill said.

"What this means is our original proposed method for dengue control may be more effective than we had previously considered and may even be extended to a range of other diseases in the future."

As someone who is currently battling a bout of tropica malaria (plasmodia falsciparium, I think) and has many friends, including my hubby, come down with dengue, this is a wonderful development. I think I understood that this bacterium while mostly working on the dengue mosquito may shorten the lifespan of the malaria mosquito, too. That is all good.

I hate Rachel Carson.

[highlander_UW]

Obviously cutting down on this terrible disease is a good thing, but I can't help but wonder what the ramifications will be. For example, I suspect that there are other insects and birds that probably eat the mosquitoes, and other things that eat them. When you reduce the amount of food at one end of the chain it's likely to have an impact on more than the disease. And what of predators that eat the mosquitoes before they die? Again, I'm not arguing that mosquitoes are more important than people, I'm just wondering what the unintended consequences will be.

[Does so]

Dengue Fever (pronounced DENG-geh) comes to South Florida occasionally from the Caribbean. An MD once advised me that I had those symptoms, and previously noted immigrants with the disease had just arrived from Haiti.

:-/

[wideminded]

So much for ObamaCare, which will mean no profits for healthcare, which means no R & D of wonder drugs,

From what I have heard it doesn't sound like Obamacare will affect drug company profits so much at all. The drug companies made a deal with Obama, before work in congress got underway, to voluntarily give up $80 billion in income over 10 years if no more restrictive legislation was passed. Sounds like a lot, but they were expected to net $2.4 trillion in that time, so it's around 3%. An amendment to allow importation of drugs from certain advanced countries did not pass. No changes have been announced that would allow Medicare to save on drug costs. The drug companies spent $200 million dollars lobbying congress and they evidently got what they wanted since the bill included no fundamental changes in the status quo.

It's actually kind of odd that Obama painted the insurance companies as villains but said very little about drug costs.

[driftdiver]

Wonder what will happen when their experiment with biologic weapons blows up.

DDT is a simple, cheap weapon.

[Smokin' Joe]

Ping...

[redinIllinois]

” It’s actually kind of odd that Obama painted the insurance companies as villains but said very little about drug costs. “

Do you REALLY believe it’s odd that Obama and the democrats acted hypocritically?????????

[homegroan]

Mosquito Tax coming

[magslinger]

I hate Rachel Carson.

Don't hate Rachel, she is beyond need for our hate, there in the ninth ring along with other, less successful, mass murderers like Stalin.

[happinesswithoutpeace]

/mark

[Jemian]

She is beyond our ability to affect her, that is true. But let me get over this particular bout of malaria which at first responded to the artesunate but is now fighting back. I know it will die, but it is putting up a fierce battle. At the moment I hate her. When I stop with the headache and the upset stomach and the fever, then I’ll return to a more objective perspective.

[yefragetuwrabrumuy]

“Wolbachia is a genus of inherited bacteria which infects arthropod species, including a high proportion of insects. It is one of the world’s most common parasitic microbes and is possibly the most common reproductive parasite in the biosphere. One study concludes that more than 16% of neotropical insect species carry this bacterium and as many as 25-70% of all insect species are estimated to be potential hosts.”

Here’s the weird part:

“Wolbachia are known to cause four different phenotypes:

* Male killing: death of infected males.
* Feminization: infected males develop as females or infertile pseudo-females.
* Parthenogenesis: reproduction of infected females without males. Some scientists have suggested that parthenogenesis may always be attributable to the effects of Wolbachia. An example of a parthenogenic species is the Trichogramma wasp, which has evolved to procreate without males with the help of Wolbachia. Males are rare in this tiny species of insect, possibly because many have been killed by that very same strain of Wolbachia.
* Cytoplasmic incompatibility: the inability of Wolbachia-infected males to successfully reproduce with uninfected females or females infected with another Wolbachia strain.

Several species are so dependent on Wolbachia that they are unable to reproduce effectively without the bacteria in their bodies. Wolbachia are present in mature eggs, but not mature sperm. Only infected females pass the infection on to their offspring.”

[Jemian]

I am part of nature. Just like a lion will eat a hyena and will destroy its enemies, I will search out and KILL those who try to destroy me. I am at the top of the food chain and I intend to stay there. DEATH TO ALL MOSQUITOES!

[LadyDoc]

Lots of Dengue here in the Philippines. Our province had 300 plus cases last year, and since most cases are mild and never get seen in the hospital, probably many times that number.

[barkeep]

My Father was a Texas A&M Veterinary grad shortly after WWII. The screw worm fly was devastating South Texas cattle herds. They came up with the idea of releasing massive quantities of neutered male flies, females could not mate twice.

Conventional wisdom of the day thought this a silly idea and a waste of money. Do we hear anything about the screw worm scourge today?

Vector control is proven effective time and again. As to malaria, may the shade of Rachel Carson be condemned to carry tons of mosquito nets through Hell for eternity. Free DDT!

[2001convSVT]

How many people must die before DDT is used again? The way things are today it could take 99.9% of the earth before the elites act to save themselves and only themselves.

[Carry_Okie]

I can't wait to see what the death cultists at the WHO do with this.

[magslinger]

That post wasn't intended to be taken absolutely seriously. She and the MSM that treated her as some sort of genius for writing that spreader full Silent Spring both are deserving of our hatred. When I read it some 40 years ago I recognized what a pile of unsubstantiated propaganda it was, even at the tender age of thirteen.

I shall pray for rapid relief and recovery for you.

[driftdiver]

The elites are not in danger. When they cut the population in half they will start to think about it.