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Get Your Malaria Vaccine Via Mosquito Bite
Science Detectives and the Giant Malaria Drug Bust
Harvesting the Saliva Glands of Mosquitoes

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Asen
07/31/09

In reply to Get Your Malaria Vaccine Via Mosquito Bite
Good God, didn't any of you see the most recent adaptation of I Am Legend? Curing disease in unusual, even ingenious ways is the surest bet to bring about the zombiepocalypse!
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BadUncle
07/31/09

@Asen: Or, alternately, a race of gigantic, carnivorous insects will learn to mimic human behavior to prey upon us.
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EtrnL_Frost
07/31/09

In reply to Get Your Malaria Vaccine Via Mosquito Bite
Oh, great. So instead of a sting and a lollipop, our children get to look forward to a sting and an itchy bump.

Awesome. I'm all for it!
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Dr Emilio Lizardo
07/31/09

In reply to Get Your Malaria Vaccine Via Mosquito Bite
Wait till a parent claims this vaccine, that he never consented to, gave her baby autism. Then where will we be?

I mean, unless you work for a news outlet looking to report complicated issues as half truths in 90 seconds.
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Edited by Dr Emilio Lizardo at 07/31/09 8:48 AM Dr Emilio Lizardo was starred

AldoraGreel
07/31/09

In reply to Get Your Malaria Vaccine Via Mosquito Bite
What are you supposed to tell those populations?

"Oh, well, some of the bugs will kill you. Some will vaccinate you. Let all bugs bite you. Hope the vaccination kind get to you first."

"How will we know?"

"You won't. Just trust us. Science!"
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RandomFrequentFlierDent
07/31/09

@AldoraGreel: I’m cringing over being so nit-picky but the science geek in me can't help it. The actual research really isn’t about using mosquitoes for vaccine delivery, it’s about using the actual parasites to develop a vaccine. Most likely any vaccines arising from this research wouldn’t use a insect vector.

Again, the title is a little misleading.
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Edited by RandomFrequentFlierDent at 07/31/09 9:28 AM

I Think We're Property
07/31/09

@RandomFrequentFlierDent: Thank god someone actually gets it. I was getting worried I'd see nothing but "but is sticking vaccines into mosquito safe?" in the entire comments section.

For pete's sake, people, actually read the damn articles.

And I don't think there is an ethical problem here. The people you'd be distributing these anti-malaria drugs to are already in a position to get infected- that's the whole point. By distributing the drugs, you'd give them an opportunity to develop natural immunity. You can take them off the drugs when bloodtests reveal natural malaria anti-bodies.
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RandomFrequentFlierDent promoted this comment

RandomFrequentFlierDent
07/31/09

In reply to Get Your Malaria Vaccine Via Mosquito Bite
I think the study itself focuses less on the idea of using insects as a vector for vaccine distribution and more on the idea that as with viral and bacterial vaccines, the organism causing the illness can also be used to produce the vaccine.

edit*Re-reading your story, I see that you mention that. It's kind of weird how both articles have fairly misleading titles.
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Edited by RandomFrequentFlierDent at 07/31/09 8:47 AM

RenRen
07/31/09

@RandomFrequentFlierDent: Yeah. I mean, it really proved the concept that people in areas should be prophilactically treated while they are there and exposed.
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