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posted by martyb on Saturday May 23 2015, @08:52PM   Printer-friendly
from the giving-malaria-the-blues dept.

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.

 
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  • (Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 23 2015, @09:18PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 23 2015, @09:18PM (#186970)

    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

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  • (Score: 2) by GungnirSniper on Saturday May 23 2015, @09:41PM

    by GungnirSniper (1671) on Saturday May 23 2015, @09:41PM (#186978) Journal

    Thanks for providing useful information about where to avoid the 'read the rest of this comment' bug.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 23 2015, @10:13PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 23 2015, @10:13PM (#186982)

    Myanmar, the country formerly known as Burma...

  • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 23 2015, @11:33PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 23 2015, @11:33PM (#186998)

    Why is malaria present only in total shitholes?

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 23 2015, @11:37PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 23 2015, @11:37PM (#187000)

      I'll take my chances in South Korea or South Africa

      • (Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 23 2015, @11:47PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 23 2015, @11:47PM (#187005)

        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

          by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 24 2015, @12:55AM (#187025)

          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

            by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 24 2015, @12:48PM (#187154)

            So its like the US?