The losing war against malaria

[Glaucus]

For once, an herbal remedy actually works. Why are malaria experts against it?

The tea comes from sweet wormwood (Artemisia annua), the Chinese plant that is a source for the world's most powerful anti-malarial treatments, which combine artemisinin derivatives with an older class of drugs. It can also be grown in wetter parts of Africa, and a year’s supply costs no more than a few dollars. Although the tea itself has traditionally been used in treatment, not prevention, in China, a randomized controlled trial on this farm showed that workers who drank it regularly reduced their risk of suffering from multiple episodes of malaria by one-third. For a group of people who were once waylaid by this mosquito-borne disease four or more times per year, the tea is a godsend.

And the WHO is against this. And I have to agree with them. Artemisinin is currently the last line of defense for Malaria as all treatments (either natural or Western inventions) have become ineffective as the organism mutates. People who drink the herbal tea certainly benefit from it (proven by research) but a daily intake is also the best way to allow the malaria organism to adapt to it quickly. And in places in Asia where the herbal tea has been used for years or decades we already see resistance. And now we have a situation where some European naturalist organizations are spreading seeds and know-how across Africa to "help" Africans help themselves, but it seems all they're really helping is the malaria parasite as it'll only find ways to adapt quicker. In effect, they are planting the seeds of their own destruction.

 

[faethor]

Herbal remedies that are demonstrated to work are typically renamed - medicine. One of the oldest medicines - aspirin is originally from the bark of a willow tree. Quinine, also an antimalarial, is from a South American tree. I didn't remember what that tree name is. So I googled it, of course, and ran across this list. Over 100 medicines come from plants. http://chemistry.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http://www.rain-tree.com/plantdrugs.htm

It's a bit difficult to walk around eating these however. The reason is first - dosing. Different plant, even next to each other, will have different concentrations of the medicine. So getting a sufficient dose is kind of a crap shoot. Running them through a factory improves consistency and eases application. The second reason is - other stuff. Plants absorb all sorts of stuff from the soil. Including heavy medals. One could inadvertently introduce other chemicals that can cause cancers or other conditions.

Certainly some herbal remedies work. But, not all do. Some herbs will kill some diseases in the lab, but if you gave that dose to a person the side effect of killing the person first would be bad. . We do need appropriately controlled experiments to demonstrate effectiveness, rule out human biases, and establish dosing.

 

[FluffyMcDeath]

And the WHO is against this. And I have to agree with them. Artemisinin is currently the last line of defense for Malaria as all treatments (either natural or Western inventions) have become ineffective as the organism mutates. People who drink the herbal tea certainly benefit from it (proven by research) but a daily intake is also the best way to allow the malaria organism to adapt to it quickly.

Hard to actually blame people who live with malaria fro wanting to stave it off with cheap remedies. Yes, it leads to resistance but so does using antibiotics to make steers fatter. Unfortunately use increases the chance of resistance, but people are very much more concerned about today than tomorrow.

 

[robert l. bentham]

but people are very much more concerned about today than tomorrow.

terracing seemed like a great way to stop erosion of topsoil initially too, but now our rivers and streams are dry... yay humans!!

 

[FluffyMcDeath]

And in an ironically timely fashion I come across this story : Death by Beef!! Yes, it's an April story and in features names like Louise Slaughter and Margaret Hamburg but it's not a joke. So that we can make beef cheaper we create a plague because that's how unfettered capitalistic competition works. Each for their own does not produce the best result for all, contrary to what capitalist theory likes to pretend. Sometimes we all have to get together and promise not to do certain things - but that sounds like tyranny to some.

 

[robert l. bentham]

Sometimes we all have to get together and promise not to do certain things - but that sounds like tyranny to some.

please explain...

 

[FluffyMcDeath]

please explain...

Many simple examples - like property rights. I agree not to take you stuff and you agree not to take mine and everyone else mutually agrees as well. Taking someone else's stuff is still a good individual option - it's a lot less work than earning it or making it yourself, but the rest of us can see that it's not going to result in a mutually beneficial situation if we allow it - it's just going to let the biggest guys get all the stuff and demotivate the talented people from making stuff - or at least desirable stuff - so we agree not to do that but we also agree that anyone caught doing that should be punished - to show we mean it.

We all agree to dispose of our waste responsibly because it effects the health of us all. Someone finds it is much cheaper to dump their waste in the village well rather than in the proper manner and with the money he saves he can afford bottle water from the Alps instead (in addition to the fancy cars of course) - well, on an individual level scamming the locals is great but it's a detriment to everyone else so someone should be made to dance beneath the gibbet.

We recognized that abuse of antibiotics is dangerous in the long term and yet the individual interests have become so large that they have been able to paralyze the populace into not making and enforcing agreements not to do inadvisable things. It's partly because it's sciencey and complicated but mostly because those who are doing it are too big to argue with. That being the case, every Tom, Dick and Harry who is trying to do the right thing is out competed and they either have to go along to get along or go out of business. Either you have agreements to stop silliness and enforce them (tyranny!!!) or you are forced to partake in the race to the bottom.

 

[robert l. bentham]

ah... i thought you were referring to how the minority, no matter how small in percentage they are to the whole, always feels that its the boot of tyranny that's crushing their larynx...