The Bill & Melinda Gates foundation has been buying Viagra, in a good cause: it seems to help beat one of the common malaria parasites, Plasmodium falciparum.
The mechanism is even analogous to Viagra's better-known effect: it makes infected red blood cells stiffer, which marks them down to be cleaned out by the spleen.
The full journal article is available at PLOS Pathogens: cAMP-Signalling Regulates Gametocyte-Infected Erythrocyte Deformability Required for Malaria Parasite Transmission.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 23 2015, @09:18PM
There is a risk of malaria in the following countries:
Afghanistan
Algeria
Angola
Azerbaijan
Bangladesh
Belize
Benin
Bhutan
Bolivia
Botswana
Brazil
Brunei Darussalam
Burkina Faso
Burundi
Cabo Verde
Cambodia
Cameroon
Central African Republic
Chad
China
Colombia
Comoros
Congo - Democratic Republic
Congo - Republic
Côte d'Ivoire
Djibouti
Dominican Republic
Ecuador
El Salvador
Equatorial Guinea
Eritrea
Ethiopia
French Guiana
Gabon
Gambia
Ghana
Guatemala
Guinea
Guinea-Bissau
Guyana
Haiti
Honduras
India
Indonesia
Iran
Kenya
Korea - North
Korea - South
Laos
Liberia
Madagascar
Malawi
Malaysia
Mali
Mauritania
Mayotte
Mexico
Mozambique
Myanmar | Burma
Namibia
Nepal
Nicaragua
Niger
Nigeria
Oman
Pakistan
Panama
Papua New Guinea
Paraguay
Peru
Philippines
Rwanda
São Tomé & Príncipe
Saudi Arabia
Senegal
Sierra Leone
Solomon Islands
Somalia
South Africa
South Sudan
Sudan
Suriname
Swaziland
Tajikistan
Tanzania
Thailand
Timor-Leste
Togo
Turkey
Uganda
Vanuatu
Venezuela
Vietnam
Yemen
Zambia
Zimbabwe
(Score: 2) by GungnirSniper on Saturday May 23 2015, @09:41PM
Thanks for providing useful information about where to avoid the 'read the rest of this comment' bug.
Tips for better submissions to help our site grow. [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 23 2015, @10:13PM
Myanmar, the country formerly known as Burma...
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 23 2015, @11:33PM
Why is malaria present only in total shitholes?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 23 2015, @11:37PM
I'll take my chances in South Korea or South Africa
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 23 2015, @11:47PM
South Korea was a pretty awful place for a long time. It was a warzone for many years, and then was governed by military dictatorships for a while. It didn't become what might be considered a democracy until the late 1980s. It's only within the past two decades that it has been something other than a shithole.
South Africa? Well, when a nation makes Detroit look like a safe and friendly place with a well-developed economy and excellent infrastructure, "shithole" is a word that does come to mind.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 24 2015, @12:55AM
South Korea is still an authoritarian shithole; it has ridiculous censorship and anti-privacy laws and the culture itself promotes authoritarianism.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 24 2015, @12:48PM
So its like the US?