Thailand Aims to Eradicate Malaria by 2024

[webfact]

 

by Natthaphon Sangpolsit

    

BANGKOK (NNT) - Thailand is striving to be malaria-free by 2024, with authorities urging people to take part in online World Malaria Day 2022 activities.

 

According to Dr Opas Karnkawinpong, director-general of the Department of Disease Control (DDC), the World Health Organization (WHO) observes World Malaria Day every year on April 25 to highlight the commitment of global communities in controlling and eradicating malaria.

 

This year’s World Malaria Day will be observed under the theme "Harness innovation to reduce the malaria disease burden and save lives," aligning with the government’s policy of eradicating malaria by 2024.

 

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Dr Opas said Thailand has made progress in controlling and preventing the disease as a result of the National Malaria Elimination Strategy 2017–2026. Innovative developments, such as the integration of diagnosis and disease carrier control, have led to successful results.

 

From 2017 to 2021, the number of malaria patients in the nation plummeted by 72%, while only 731 cases have been reported since the beginning of this year.

 

Meanwhile, Dr Chantana Padungtod, director of the DDC’s Division of Vector Borne Diseases (DVBD), invites the public to take part in an online event on the DVBD Facebook page to commemorate World Malaria Day 2022.

 

Online activities and seminars to raise awareness will be streamed to viewers beginning at 10 AM on April 25. For more information, people can contact the DDC’s hotline by calling 1422.

 

 

-- © Copyright NNT 2022-04-25

 

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[Geoffggi]

Reduce the number of cases - yes maybe: but eradicate is another matter as they are surrounded by other countries & mosquitoes don't need a visa to cross the lines ....LOL

[law ling]

Good luck to them, but this curse of mankind has proven, thus far, to be a very tough nut to crack.

[RandiRona]

So in two years they will get rid of Mosquitoes or in two years they will stop treating any cases of Malaria? Both achieves no Malaria case.

 

Ask Papa Xi....he was able to keep Zero covid in his country.

[CartagenaWarlock]

1 hour ago, Geoffggi said:

Reduce the number of cases - yes maybe: but eradicate is another matter as they are surrounded by other countries & mosquitoes don't need a visa to cross the lines ....LOL

It's not the mosquitoes travelling to cross the border it's people who travel to cross the border. Most species of mesquites can hardly fly more than 3 miles. The US registers around 2K cases every year mostly immigrants or people who travel to malaria infested areas outside the USA. 

[CartagenaWarlock]

9 minutes ago, RandiRona said:

So in two years they will get rid of Mosquitoes or in two years they will stop treating any cases of Malaria? Both achieves no Malaria case.

They will do what is convenient for them and what the US CDC will recognize just like what India did for US CDC to recognize India at level 1 Covid-19 risk country compared to Western Europe's risk level 3 country. Definitely they won't read or listen to what "wife visa" refugees rant in the only forum where their voices are appreciated by other refugees to cheer each others for their refugee status. 

Edited April 24, 2022 by CartagenaWarlock

[hotchilli]

4 hours ago, webfact said:

Thailand is striving to be malaria-free by 2024

Thailand strives to do many things, but usually underachieves.

[Gottfrid]

Checking booth 1: Healthy, Healthy, Healthy, Sick (It´s quarantine for you), Healthy, Sick...........

Edited April 25, 2022 by Gottfrid

[mikebell]

After curing Ebola, Thailand is setting its sights high with trying to eradicate malaria, (ignoring rabid dogs.)   I suggest a look at their drainage systems might help.  Because Thai surveyors don't know how to operate those scope thingies that measure levels, their answer is to build perfect breeding traps for mosquitos.  Every ten metres they build a concrete chamber.  Water settles until it reaches the level of the exit drain pipe and it surges on to the next chamber & so on down the line.  This leaves at least six inches of stagnant water in a dark chamber; ideal for each pregnant female to lay 400 eggs.

[Paul Henry]

CartagenaWarlo should check his facts: Mosquito from Papua New Guinea are regularly detected in Australia (by species). A distance of 2369kms. They travel this distance over the ocean by wind currents, all they have to do is keep themselves in the air and the wind brings them across.

These incursions are regularly monitired by by CSIRO and the Queensland Government.

[Burma Bill]

8 hours ago, webfact said:

Thailand is striving to be malaria-free by 2024

Does this also include Dengue, Chikungunya and Lika virus which are also carried by mosquitoes??????

[In Full Agreement]

 

2024?

 

What the rush?

[internationalism]

so those some 200-250 cases of malaria per month is not small.

I would also suspect that this year dramatic drop of 72% is just under counting, because health system is preoccupied with covid and omicron, so many other diseases are missed or misdiagnosed (recorded as covid and not as malaria - as some symptoms are similar). So the real figure might be same as the last years, as there is no rational reason to drop that much within year. So still there might be as much as 300-400 cases per month.

Can be speculated that closed land borders for 2 years and little legal migration resulted in this drop. But still there is illegal trans border movement and malaria in remote communities is beyond radar if thai health service. Once land borders do open (that within a few months) there would be surge of cases. With civil war in birma and their collapsed health system, there would be steady traffic of patients into thailand seeking medical help  

 

 

Edited April 25, 2022 by internationalism

[tandor]

4 hours ago, Paul Henry said:

CartagenaWarlo should check his facts: Mosquito from Papua New Guinea are regularly detected in Australia (by species). A distance of 2369kms. They travel this distance over the ocean by wind currents, all they have to do is keep themselves in the air and the wind brings them across.

These incursions are regularly monitired by by CSIRO and the Queensland Government.

..they hitch rides on cargo ships etc.

[tandor]

2 hours ago, Burma Bill said:

Does this also include Dengue, Chikungunya and Lika virus which are also carried by mosquitoes??????

....good idea...but, Malaria is a parasite.

[Will B Good]

Surely there must be a herb to fight malaria?

[zzaa09]

3 hours ago, Will B Good said:

Surely there must be a herb to fight malaria?

Lighting up this evening as we speak.

[LosLobo]

5 hours ago, Will B Good said:

Surely there must be a herb to fight malaria?

Actually, WHO recommend Artemisinin based therapies.

Artemisinin is derived from Artemisia Annua (Sweet Wormwood, Sweet Annie, Qing Hao). This has been used in traditional Chinese for 2000 years to treat malaria.

[simon43]

5 hours ago, tandor said:

....good idea...but, Malaria is a parasite.

Well, if we want to be pedantic, malaria is not a parasite, and nor are mosquitos ???? A parasite lives on a host organism, and mozzies do not.  Malaria is a pathogen that the mozzie carries and which it passes to an organism that it feeds on for blood.  Dengue etc are pathogens that are transmitted in the same way.

 

Science lesson over.....

[Led Lolly Yellow Lolly]

[[[ don't want to argue and frankly I'm tired of my posts being deleted by one particular mod. Probably my last post]]]

Edited April 25, 2022 by Led Lolly Yellow Lolly

[Will B Good]

51 minutes ago, LosLobo said:

Actually, WHO recommend Artemisinin based therapies.

Artemisinin is derived from Artemisia Annua (Sweet Wormwood, Sweet Annie, Qing Hao). This has been used in traditional Chinese for 2000 years to treat malaria.

Well blow me down with a feather......thank you.

[Moonlover]

11 hours ago, mikebell said:

After curing Ebola, Thailand is setting its sights high with trying to eradicate malaria, (ignoring rabid dogs.)   I suggest a look at their drainage systems might help.  Because Thai surveyors don't know how to operate those scope thingies that measure levels, their answer is to build perfect breeding traps for mosquitos.  Every ten metres they build a concrete chamber.  Water settles until it reaches the level of the exit drain pipe and it surges on to the next chamber & so on down the line.  This leaves at least six inches of stagnant water in a dark chamber; ideal for each pregnant female to lay 400 eggs.

That's what happened in our village 3 years ago. They came along and laid in 300 meters of drainage ditches, which drained the water to nowhere. Literally nowhere! We now have 300 meter long mosquito breeding pens and had our first outbreak of dengue fever in 6 years!

[placnx]

8 hours ago, Burma Bill said:

Does this also include Dengue, Chikungunya and Lika virus which are also carried by mosquitoes??????

Malaria spreads via Anopheles mosquitoes, but the others by Aedes. Malaria is a parasitic disease. Another control idea is to manipulate the population of Anopheles. A study in four African countries showed that the TEP1 gene can confer resistance to the malaria parasite.

https://www.mpg.de/13274217/malaria-mosquitos

The An. coluzzi species is TEP1-resistant to the malaria parasite, so if it could replace An. gambiae, which is not, this could inhibit malaria transmission.

 

In Thailand the Anopheles species are different. https://parasitesandvectors.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13071-021-04870-8

It would be interesting to see whether certain species of Anopheles here are TEP1-resistant to the parasite. 

 

This article discusses the vaccine now being tested. BioNTech wants to make an mRNA vaccine.

https://thethaiger.com/news/national/thailand-wants-to-eradicate-malaria-for-good

[jacko45k]

19 hours ago, Burma Bill said:

Does this also include Dengue, Chikungunya and Lika virus which are also carried by mosquitoes??????

I would certainly applaud the place being mosquito free. 

[tandor]

11 hours ago, simon43 said:

Well, if we want to be pedantic, malaria is not a parasite, and nor are mosquitos ???? A parasite lives on a host organism, and mozzies do not.  Malaria is a pathogen that the mozzie carries and which it passes to an organism that it feeds on for blood.  Dengue etc are pathogens that are transmitted in the same way.

 

Science lesson over.....

....well simon43...whoever cut and pasted my original reply left off my inclusion about other viruses transmitted by mosquitoes...you need to go back and read his rant, of which i amended before you start lecturing me..i dont need any Science lessons thankyou.

[RichardColeman]

Listen mate, they cannot see the 3m pick up in front of them or the 5m pole at the side of the road, what makes you think they will be able to see mosquitos ? 

[simon43]

13 minutes ago, tandor said:

....well simon43...whoever cut and pasted my original reply left off my inclusion about other viruses transmitted by mosquitoes...you need to go back and read his rant, of which i amended before you start lecturing me..i dont need any Science lessons thankyou.

Thanks.  I checked back in the thread.  I see no post from you with more details.  Your first post in this thread is a brief comment about cargo ships, followed immediately by the comment that I'm replying to.  Has someone removed your post about other viruses carried by mosquitos?

 

Oh, if you think I'm lecturing you, then you sound as if you are a rather sensitive person.  Sticks and stones etc ????

 

End of.....

[Wongkitlo]

I think many Thais do not know that if they leave water around mosquitoes will breed in it. I remember being told by my seemingly intelligent landlord that there are a lot of mosquitoes because the grass is long. Many Thais are immune to their bites after being bitten since babies but do not understand that immunity from bites does not lead to immunity from disease.

[placnx]

On 4/25/2022 at 7:29 PM, simon43 said:

Well, if we want to be pedantic, malaria is not a parasite, and nor are mosquitos ???? A parasite lives on a host organism, and mozzies do not.  Malaria is a pathogen that the mozzie carries and which it passes to an organism that it feeds on for blood.  Dengue etc are pathogens that are transmitted in the same way.

 

Science lesson over.....

Please refer to this wiki as to whether malaria is caused by a parasite (transmitted by mosquitoes):

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malaria