Unconventional Thinking

I enjoy unique ideas. I like to think about things that are outside the mainstream, and I think it's fun when you get a really good idea or observation that seems surprising at first, but makes a lot of sense when considered. Here's such a thought.

Every year up to half a billion people suffer from malaria and up to 3 million people die of it. Malaria is caused by a parasite and is transmitted by a particular species of mosquito. Virtually all attempts to combat malaria have treated the mosquitos as the problem. But the mosquitos are victims too -- they get sick from malaria parasites just like we do. The interesting idea is refocus our efforts on the parasite rather than the mosquito. Rather than killing the mosquitos, maybe we should be trying to cure them.

And it takes two to tango. Humans are the vector for malaria transmission to mosquitos. When someone has malaria we can treat them for the disease, sure, but we should also prescribe heavy doses of insect repellent and try to make sure they don't get bitten by mosquitos while they're infectious. I don't know if this is part of the standard protocol, but it should be.