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Dear readers and fellow-Apes

I thank you for taking the trouble and the time to read My Not-So-Humble Postings.

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Thank you.

920: Mosquitoes and Malaria X – Worldwide in Brief: Indonesia / Thailand / the Philippines / and what malaria-free really means…
25 October, 2009

IRIN-News

Indonesia: Renewed drive to eliminate malaria

Jakarta April 2008: Indonesia, where an estimated 100 million people live in areas susceptible to malaria, had embarked on a drive to eliminate the disease by 2030 – That’ll be the year! Human-Apes invent and improve – evolve – new drugs and methods, and mosquitoes change and adapt to them, and – evolve – become more resistant and resilient…evolution in motion…

In 2007, 1.75 million Indonesians were clinically diagnosed with malaria and more than 300,000 people tested positive for the disease. A clinical diagnosis involves only the observation of symptoms while positive cases are confirmed through microscopy slides or rapid diagnostic tests – Again, these figures are too pat for belief.

The fatality rate in Indonesia was estimated at about 1% but it was believed that many more deaths were not recorded, due to no access to health-services among people in remote villages.

Five provinces in eastern Indonesia had been categorized as high-endemic regions. While the islands of Java, Borneo and Sulawesi were considered low-endemic, in several areas malaria cases remained high. Under a programme launched by the health ministry, Indonesia aimed to halve the number of villages where more than 5 in 1,000 people were infected with malaria by 2010, and eliminate the disease by 2030. In some villages in the easternmost region of Papua, which consists of three provinces, between 30 and 80% of the population were infected with malaria.

Like I said before, the wily, wicked, cunning, and highly ruthless, resilient, and relentless mosquito is a creature that has learnt to migrate, change, adopt and adapt to any and all conditions, environments and circumstances. Man-the-Ape attacks, it retreats and regroups; Man-the-Ape improves, it improvises; Man-the-Ape invents and/or develops new drugs, tools, strategies and methods, it develops resistance and circumvents or adapts. I know the mosquito too well and I respect it too much to underestimate it or take it for a fool! To say that Creation is true and Evolution is false; and that God created this coarse and callous creature is…I say it evolved into what it is. It’s evolution in motion. By God and Satan!

Thailand: Winning the battle against malaria but challenges remained

Bangkok April 2008: Thailand, widely recognised as a leader in the global war or struggle against malaria, announced a 50% drop in mortality and morbidity in 2005 from 1998. The number of reported cases dropped from 192,000 in 1998 to 51,000 in 2004 – JEEZ! See how exact and glib the figures were!? Even so, the WHO and Department of Public Health viewed malaria as an ongoing disease and reported a sharp rise in infections since 2004. There were more than 63,000 reported cases in 2007. According to the WHO, half of all malaria cases in Thailand were in its four southernmost provinces: Songkhla, Pattani, Yala, and Narathiwat. The other half are among migrant workers and displaced persons from Myanmar, Laos, and Cambodia along the border.

However, critical challenges stemmed from an influx of counterfeit and sub-standard anti-malarial drugs into the country. Another serious hurdle was treating artesunate-sensitive and possible artesunate-resistant malaria. There was also a risk of these strains spreading from south-east Asia to around the world. Artesunate, an extract of the artemisia annua herb, is a powerful anti-malarial therapy. Public health experts view artesunate, as part of Artemisinin-based combination therapy, as the best available treatment against multi-drug-resistant Plasmodium falciparum malaria in south-east Asia.

The Philippines: 6 provinces declared malaria-free, but 59 provinces declared the mosquitoes free to move, bite, and bestow…and malaria free to kill at will

Manila April 2008: The Department of Health marked World Malaria Day on 25th April by declaring 6 more provinces malaria-free, bringing the total to 22 out of 81. The provinces of Marinduque, Sorsogon, and Albay in Luzon; Eastern and Western Samar in the Visayas; and Surigao del Norte in Mindanao were declared malaria-free (Horse-shit) after having had no reported indigenous or local natives cases for five consecutive years. In 2006, Benguet, Cavite, and Masbate were classified malaria-free. 13 other provinces were declared free of the disease in 1999, and remain so today. Or so they say! Believe only half of what you see, and nothing of what you hear…the fact that there were no reported cases does not mean no cases at all. Thousands of the local natives have no access to official venues.  Also, the D of H could have said that only to cover its ass – after pocketing at least half of the funds allotted to the project.

Malaria cases had consistently declined from more than 76,000 reported in 1990 to 46,000 in 2005, with 150 deaths in that year. In 2006, malaria incidences declined a further 26% to 33,800, with 89 deaths. Such exact figures make me need to hold my nose…something smells

Challenges remain. The disease is still endemic in 59 provinces, with 26 Category A provinces contributing about 90% of the total reported cases. There are 10.8 million people at risk of acquiring the disease in these endemic areas and malaria still has the 9th highest morbidity rate in the country. The WHO lists the Philippines among the 10 malaria endemic countries in the Western Pacific region. Now, let’s take that half-Horse-shit and half-Horse-fart word they are so fond of using: malaria-free. Malaria-free could mean either free from malaria, which is impossible, or malaria is free to roam at will – all of you out there, and the rest in here, of my dear readers and fellow-Apes may choose…but look well, and choose well.

2009: According to the WHO, there are an estimated 109 malaria countries in 4 regions – Africa, Asia Pacific, the Americas, and the Middle-East and Eurasia…see 915…but don’t be fooled, and take it from me…wherever you see mosquitoes on this doomed planet, you’d better be sure there is malaria in one strain or the other – severe, moderate, or mild – and other diseases. Also, and this is more important than you think, there is no such a disease as mild malaria. Mild is only mild when mild is recognised early, taken very seriously, and treated immediately. Fool around with mild and mild will soon show you how wild mild can be…

 

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