英文読解クラブ～マラリア撲滅に希望～ ( アフリカ ) - Snail GO!GO! in USA

水曜担当なのに、気がつくと、木曜日。。。
今週とっても忙しかったのは事実ですが、それにしても、何だこのだらしのなさは！
締め切りを守らない悪い癖を、なんとかせねば。。。

。。。何もともあれ、今週のトピックは、先ほど書いたアフリカン・フェアーにひもづけて、マラリアの撲滅に向けた取り組みを取り上げます。
BBCから二本立てでどうぞ～～

"WHO backs DDT for malaria control," BBC NEWS, 15 Sep. 2006,
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/5350068.stm

The World Health Organization (WHO) has reversed a 30-year policy by endorsing the use of DDT for malaria control.The chemical is sprayed inside houses to kill malaria-carrying mosquitoes.

DDT has been banned globally for every use except fighting disease because of its environmental impacts and fears for human health.

WHO says there is no health risk, and DDT should rank with bednets and drugs as a tool for combating malaria, which kills more than one million each year.

"The scientific and programmatic evidence clearly supports this reassessment," said Dr Anarfi Asamoa-Baah, WHO assistant director-general for HIV/AIDS, TB and Malaria.

"Indoor residual spraying is useful to quickly reduce the number of infections caused by malaria-carrying mosquitoes; it has proven to be just as cost effective as other malaria prevention measures, and DDT presents no health risk when used properly."

Teams of sprayers typically visit endemic areas once a year, spraying the chemical on the inside walls of houses; mosquitoes landing there absorb it and die.

ちのの感想：

DDTって、殺虫剤の一種で、日本語に訳すと　ジクロロジフェニルトリクロロエタン　！！（長っ！）

とっても強力ではあるが、１９６０年代頃から生態系への影響が危惧うされ、畑などでの使用が禁止されたが、人体への影響ははっきり分からなかったので、国によってマラリアの予防に代替の薬品を使ったりしていました。

そんな薬品を使うことが本当に良いのかどうか、個人的には疑問ですが、これをWTOが後押したことで、きっとまた新たな議論が呼び起こされ、新たな研究が促進されて、より良いマラリアの予防法に繋がることを期待しています。

"Hopes over new malaria treatment," BBC NEWS, 15 Set. 2006,
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/5346176.stm

British scientists have helped to develop a new malaria treatment which they hope could save many thousands of young lives in Africa.

Imperial College in London collaborated with experts in Kenya to develop a technique based on fluid replacement for children ill with malaria.

They estimate it could save the lives of 80% of the million African children who die each year due to malaria.

In one trial of 88 children with malaria, 98% survived after treatment.

The treatment was developed in an eight-year collaborative study between the London college and the Wellcome Trust Kenya Medical Research Institute Centre, and is featured in the journal PLOS Clinical Trials.

Using intensive care methods usually only available on paediatric intensive care units in developed countries, they showed that fluid depletion was key to the development of severe symptoms among Kenyan children with malaria.

In the past children with severe malaria have been denied additional fluids for fear they might exacerbate brain swelling associated with the disease.

The new treatment avoids this problem by including albumin - a molecule which holds water inside blood vessels - in resuscitation fluids given to children.

～中略～

"It is absolutely essential that the results are reproduced in larger studies before we advise on any change in practice."

Dr Maitland said her team was now seeking funding for a larger trial involving over 1,000 children in Ghana, Gambia and Kenya.

Professor Brian Greenwood, of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, agreed that there was still much confusion about whether or not to give children with malaria fluids.

He said: "The numbers in the trial are small, but this is an encouraging result which certainly should be followed up."

医学用語：
paediatric ― 小児（科）の
albumin ー 血液中のタンパク質の一種

ちのの感想：

マラリアってどんな病か、私は詳しく知らないんだけど、脱水症状を引き起こして、子どもたちの命を奪ってしまうんですね～
この実験で効果が証明された手法が現実の治療に取り入れられることを心から願っているんですが、一つだけ、懸念点があるんです。
例え効果が臨床実験で証明されたとしても、この治療法は高度な医療設備を必要としているのに対し、アフリカの多くの国では、まともな病院すらないのが現状です。

マラリアの撲滅には、医療研究の独り歩きではなく、総合的な支援が必要なんですね。