January 2010 – Malaria Museum

26 Jan

Catching fish in Cambodia

Here’s another use for the ever-flexible insecticide treated bednet. This time in Cambodia.

Fishing in Cambodia using a Mosquito Net

Thanks to Will Smith for finding it.

26 Jan

DYK: Malaria was used as a cure for Syphillis

For a brief time malaria was used as treatment for tertiary syphilis because it produced prolonged and high fevers (a form of pyrotherapy). This was considered an acceptable risk because the malaria could later be treated with quinine, which was available at that time. This discovery was championed by Julius Wagner-Jauregg, who won the 1927 Nobel Prize for Medicine for his work in this area.

25 Jan

Overheard: I get malaria every couple of months, then I go to the doctor and get the pills.

When I asked my (English) diving instructor in Mozambique whether he recommends taking the prophlaxic, he told me he gets malaria about 3 times a year and when he does he goes to the doctor, takes the medicine and a few days later he’s OK again.

This post is part of a series called “Overheard” . We take no responsibility for the authenticity of these posts, they are intended as discussion points only and not as reliable sources.

Our sources remain anonymous unless otherwise stated.

25 Jan

Overheard: We don’t have malaria here…but if you do get it just take the pills!

Have yet to meet anybody who takes Malaria remotely seriously: natives, foreign workers, people who have never had it, people who have had it…they all treat it like a minor inconvenience. It is fascinating how many people have implied I’m a hypochondriac because i wanted a net..everyone says the same thing “We don’t have malaria here…but if you do get it just take the pills!”

This post is part of a series called “Overheard” . We take no responsibility for the authenticity of these posts, they are intended as discussion points only and not as reliable sources.

25 Jan

Overheard: Parents resell medicine, children die.

“I was told by a Danish medical worker who was on a break from Congo that a lot of the time parents resell medication they are given for their kids and hence the kids die…quite common she said.”

This post is part of a series called “Overheard” . We take no responsibility for the authenticity of these posts, they are intended as discussion points only and not as reliable sources.

Our sources remain anonymous unless otherwise stated.

25 Jan