As an expert, how real do you consider the danger posed by malaria in Nigeria, Africa and, indeed, throughout the world?
Malaria is real and it is a part of us. Some people consider it and everybody considers it to be so but the danger is so real because we grew up in it and the name is so familiar unlike any other disease like tuberculosis and others. That is why we don’t take it with kid gloves. Malaria kills an average of about 250, 000 children yearly in Nigeria and it kills more than HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis put together. And it also kills a lot of pregnant women. In fact, 11 per cent of death in pregnant women is recorded yearly resulting from malaria fever and its consequences. And if you go to our hospitals you will see a great number of children suffering from what we call cerebral malaria, parasite entering the brain and it kills. It kills faster than any other killer disease.
What are the core challenges of combating malaria in tropical African countries, such as Nigeria?
I think the major challenge of malaria control is that we have serious inability to control the defector ranging from the inability of the defector to breathe, to multiply and once you have the defector and the parasites, they continue to transmit the disease. The second is the lack of political will of governments in Nigeria and across Africa who are not committing enough resources to fighting the scourge it deserves. But the governments don’t commit enough resources to fighting malaria and other things we need to do to combat the scourge.
We were surprised that the climate differences had less impact on the transmission of blood parasites than expected," says Petra Quillfeldt. "More vectors live in warmer climates; therefore, we would have expected to find a higher rate of infection in tropical locations. We discovered, however, that different species living on the same island under the same climate conditions can display very different rates of infection." The researchers defined several seabird groups that regularly carry malaria parasites. Frigatebirds were found to be particularly affected here, as all five species of this tropical seabird family are frequently infected.
"Of five seabird species present in the seabird community on Christmas Island in the tropical Indian Ocean, only the Christmas Island frigatebirds were found to be malaria hosts. Over half of the island's frigatebirds were affected and, moreover, with three genetically different malaria lines of the subgenera Haemoproteus and Parahaemoproteus, one of which was a completely new strain. As opposed to this, tropical birds and three species of gannet on the same island were not infected at all," explains Petra Quillfeldt.
Furthermore, the scientists have failed to find any blood parasite infections in other seabird groups, such as skuas and auks. Their research has led to the conclusion that the likelihood of infection depends, among other things, on the lifestyle of the birds: species with longer fledgling periods and hole-nesters are particularly severely affected.
This is the first study of this kind to examine seabirds in all climate zones. It has shown that different factors can influence infection with malaria parasites. The study also raised new questions: The researchers would now like to gain a better understanding of the life cycles of the malaria parasites and their transmitters, as well as discover which mechanisms are responsible for susceptibility to infection among the different species.
Malaria is real and it is a part of us. Some people consider it and everybody considers it to be so but the danger is so real because we grew up in it and the name is so familiar unlike any other disease like tuberculosis and others. That is why we don’t take it with kid gloves. Malaria kills an average of about 250, 000 children yearly in Nigeria and it kills more than HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis put together. And it also kills a lot of pregnant women. In fact, 11 per cent of death in pregnant women is recorded yearly resulting from malaria fever and its consequences. And if you go to our hospitals you will see a great number of children suffering from what we call cerebral malaria, parasite entering the brain and it kills. It kills faster than any other killer disease.
What are the core challenges of combating malaria in tropical African countries, such as Nigeria?
I think the major challenge of malaria control is that we have serious inability to control the defector ranging from the inability of the defector to breathe, to multiply and once you have the defector and the parasites, they continue to transmit the disease. The second is the lack of political will of governments in Nigeria and across Africa who are not committing enough resources to fighting the scourge it deserves. But the governments don’t commit enough resources to fighting malaria and other things we need to do to combat the scourge.
We were surprised that the climate differences had less impact on the transmission of blood parasites than expected," says Petra Quillfeldt. "More vectors live in warmer climates; therefore, we would have expected to find a higher rate of infection in tropical locations. We discovered, however, that different species living on the same island under the same climate conditions can display very different rates of infection." The researchers defined several seabird groups that regularly carry malaria parasites. Frigatebirds were found to be particularly affected here, as all five species of this tropical seabird family are frequently infected.
"Of five seabird species present in the seabird community on Christmas Island in the tropical Indian Ocean, only the Christmas Island frigatebirds were found to be malaria hosts. Over half of the island's frigatebirds were affected and, moreover, with three genetically different malaria lines of the subgenera Haemoproteus and Parahaemoproteus, one of which was a completely new strain. As opposed to this, tropical birds and three species of gannet on the same island were not infected at all," explains Petra Quillfeldt.
Furthermore, the scientists have failed to find any blood parasite infections in other seabird groups, such as skuas and auks. Their research has led to the conclusion that the likelihood of infection depends, among other things, on the lifestyle of the birds: species with longer fledgling periods and hole-nesters are particularly severely affected.
This is the first study of this kind to examine seabirds in all climate zones. It has shown that different factors can influence infection with malaria parasites. The study also raised new questions: The researchers would now like to gain a better understanding of the life cycles of the malaria parasites and their transmitters, as well as discover which mechanisms are responsible for susceptibility to infection among the different species.
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