Despite ongoing continuous research towards developing a malaria vaccine, we have still not achieved this target and the malaria parasite continues to kill thousands, especially children in developing countries. However, current control methods have had good results in some countries. Can these control methods be enough or should people still keep hoping for a vaccine? Would eradication of malaria be a possibility if no vaccine remains available?

BACKGROUND: It was previously reported that there is a positive correlation between incidence of type 1 diabetes and prevalence of asthma and atopic eczema. A negative correlation between the prevalence of type 1 diabetes and mortality from infectious diseases as well as a positive correlation with antibiotic susceptibility at a country level have also been reported. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to investigate the association between country prevalence of rhinitis, atopic eczema, rhinoconjunctivitis, and wheezing with mortality from infectious diseases and also with antibiotic susceptibility at a country level. METHODS: Data for prevalence of rhinitis, eczema, rhinoconjunctivitis, and wheezing was obtained from the International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood study (ISAAC). ISAAC Phase one was a multicentre multicountry cross sectional study involving over 700,000 children in 2 age groups of school children, 13-14 years old (adolescents) and 6-7 years old (children) in 156 centres from 56 countries. Mortality from infectious diseases was taken from World Health Organisation data. The Alexander project was used to identify antibiotic susceptibilities to common bacteria. RESULTS: There were significant positive correlations between atopic eczema and mortality from all infectious diseases studied, diarrhoeal illness, tropical infections, and childhood infections. A negative correlation exists between the prevalence of rhinitis and Streptococcus pneumoniae susceptibility to penicillin and to erythromycin, rhinitis and Haemophilus influenzae susceptibility to ampicillin and between rhinoconjunctivitis and H. influenzae susceptibility to ampicillin. CONCLUSION: Th1/Th2 responses might influence the pathogenesis of infectious disease mortality, while antibiotic overprescription could explain the negative association between atopy and antibiotic susceptibility.
Ampicillin ; Anti-Infective Agents ; Asthma ; Bacteria ; Child ; Communicable Diseases ; Conjunctivitis, Allergic ; Dermatitis, Atopic ; Eczema ; Erythromycin ; Global Health ; Haemophilus influenzae ; Humans ; Hypersensitivity ; Incidence ; Influenza, Human ; Mortality ; Penicillins ; Prevalence ; Respiratory Sounds ; Rhinitis ; Streptococcus pneumoniae

BACKGROUND: The prevalence of allergic conditions is increasing in most countries. One possible explanation may be childhood nutrition. OBJECTIVE: The aim of the study was to investigate the relationship between consumption of pre-specified types of food in school-aged children and presence of respiratory and allergic symptoms. METHODS: A total of 191 students aged 9–11 years were recruited from 5 schools to geographically cover all of Malta. Data was collected between October 2011 and February 2012. This was part of a bigger study which included clinical and environmental tests besides standardized health questionnaires. For the purposes of this part of the study only the health questionnaires were used. These standardized health questionnaires based on the International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood (ISAAC) were used to identify the presence of respiratory and allergic symptoms and to identify the types of foods and the frequency of consumption of various types of foods. RESULTS: We found that milk, meat, butter, olive oil, and yoghurt consumption had a negative association with allergic symptoms in children, whilst fish consumption had a detrimental effect. These relationships remained significant after correction for paternal level of education. CONCLUSION: The study highlights the fact that nutrition in early childhood may have a significant effect on the risk of allergic conditions. Our results, taken together with data in the literature, suggest that different types of fish might have had different effects. This is probably related to their different fatty acid constitution thus warranting further studies.
Asthma ; Butter ; Child ; Constitution and Bylaws ; Education ; Humans ; Hypersensitivity ; Malta ; Meat ; Milk ; Olive Oil ; Prevalence ; Yogurt