| The Ways to
control Malaria |
In recent years, the spread of malaria seems
renewed, especially in parts of sub-Saharan Africa. The global health community
was once confident at their control of this disease, with many successes in
ridding large areas of malaria over the previous decades; but now increasingly
large numbers of people are dying from the mosquito-borne ailment. Forty percent
of the world's population live in the malaria-infected areas, and it also brings
around 260 million new cases.
The resurgence of malaria is occurring in several parts of the world. However,
it is most acute in Africa, south of the Sahara Desert, where according to a
1993 World Health Organization (WHO) report, between 1.4 and 2.8 million people,
half of them children, now die each year from the disease. This is triple the
annual number of people in the same region who die of AIDS. Actual numbers of
malaria deaths may be even larger because the symptoms, such as chronic fever,
are often mistaken for other, unrelated illness, such as influenza or pneumonia.
In the 1950s, subtropical regions in the United States, Southern Europe and
elsewhere were sprayed with DDT, which eliminated the malaria parasite where
used appropriately but resulted in resistant mosquitoes where sprayed too often.
No only could mosquitoes have resistance to the drugs applied on them but people
also are able to build up their immune system. Take people who live in the
countryside of Africa for example, 5 percent of children die of malaria, and the
many who survive it go on to become adults with a high degree of natural
resistance.
Health workers, discouraged by the diminishing effectiveness of malarial drugs,
are seeking to promote physical barriers to infection rather than chemical ones.
The concept of mosquito nets hung over beds to keep mosquitoes away is certainly
not new, but recent efforts to improve them have led to some success in
protecting people from malaria. In experiments in Gambia, the number of children
dying from malaria has dropped 50 percent since using nets soaked in
insecticide. To remain effective, the nets need to be re-soaked only twice a
year, and no drugs need to be taken for prevention. The nets provide additional
benefits to the families who use them in that they prevent other types of
irritating insects from getting close.
Whether or not mosquito nets would be effective on a large scale remains to be
seen, as conditions vary from place to place. Some users complaint it is too hot
under the nets to be able to sleep. Furthermore, their cost limits the number of
people who can take advantage of them.
Thus, the search for a vaccine for malaria continues. Manuel Patarroyo, a
medical researcher from Colombia, stated in 1993 that he had been successful in
trying a new vaccine on some 20,000 people in South America. Similar testing of
the vaccine is being done in Africa, but health officials are not convinced it
will be effective because the rate at which new cases of malaria develop is many
times higher than that in South America.
Complete the sentences below with words taken from the above passage. Please
don't fill in more than one word for each blank space. |
| 1.
% of human beings live in areas that are infected with malaria. |
| 2. Chronic fever is one
of malaria's
,which often mislead people to view it as influenza. |
| 3. For long-term uses, people should
the mosquito net two times a year. |
| 4. In the beginning, the application of DDT indeed
mosquito parasite but mosquitoes would be
if they are sprayed too much. |
| 5. Malaria infection is preventable without
. |
Use the information from the above passage to
indicate the relationship between two events given for each question below.
Classify them as
PC if there is a positively related
NC if there is a negatively related
L / N if there is little or no correlation
NI if there is no information provided
WWrite the appropriate answers(PC, NC, L/N, NI) in boxes 6-10 on your answer
sheet. |
|
6. malaria growth rate |
incidence of pneumonia |
|
7. resistance of parasite |
number of new malaria cases |
|
8. use of soaked mosquito nets |
number of new malaria cases |
|
9. number of malaria death |
number of new malaria cases |
|
10.use of soaked mosquito nets |
number of new malaria cases |
Glossary
malaria: a common hot disease of hot
countries, passed by the bite of certain mosquitoes.
AIDS: Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome; a very serious disease caused by a
virus which breaks down the body's natural defense against infection.
pneumonia: a serious disease of the lungs
with inflammation and difficulty in breathing
immune system: the bodily system by which special substances are produced to
fight against disease-causing substances that have entered the body
vaccine: a poisonous substances used for protecting people against disease.
Writing Task 1
You should spend about 30 minutes on this task.
Some people believe that university students should gain some working experience
or travel abroad to broaden their vision before going to graduate school. What
are the advantages and disadvantages regarding to it and what is your opinion?
|