Introduction

The purpose of this blog is to follow the progress of the grid computing project Rosetta@home, which is dedicated to the search for protein structures that could serve as potential treatment for several diseases, one of those being malaria. The participation in a grid computing network is part of the service-learning requirement for our spring 2013 Evolution class.

Included here is an excerpt from the website HowStuffWorks.com for general information about malaria:
     "Suppose you're on a summer vacation in Southern Florida watching the sun set, and the mosquitoes are buzzing. You may suffer a few bites and be uncomfortable with the itchy welts. But if you're a mother in tropical Africa, a biting mosquito is one of your worst fears, because it can transmit malaria. In this article, we'll learn about this serious, often fatal disease and find out why it's one of the world's most pressing public health concerns.

Malaria is an infection transmitted by a certain type of mosquito. Eradicated in the United States and other developed countries, it is now a disease of tropical areas in Africa, Asia, Central and South America, the Middle East and Oceania. Today, malaria is widespread in more than 100 countries, affecting about 300 million people and causing 1 million deaths a year. More than 90 percent of cases occur in tropical Africa, with young children and pregnant women making up most cases. In Africa, malaria is the leading cause of death for children under the age of five.

Globally, more than 2 billion people are at risk for malaria, with the majority of cases occurring among the poorest 20 percent of the world's population. In these poor and often rural areas, healthcare systems are inadequate and sanitation is poor. Increasing resistance to the drugs used to treat malaria and insecticides used to prevent it also contribute to the growing prevalence of the disease and to its resurgence in areas where it had been eliminated."
 source: http://health.howstuffworks.com/diseases-conditions/infectious/malaria.htm

To read about symptoms and prevention of malaria, see the following link: http://health.howstuffworks.com/diseases-conditions/infectious/malaria1.htm

Below is the link to the video created by the Rosetta@home organization.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=GzATbET3g54#!

Below is a video detailing the life cycle of the malaria parasite within a human.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szlfndj0TFE  (simplified video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2-XTlHBf_4)

Pictures pertaining to malaria from the National Geographic website (picture captions were also obtained from the National Geographic website):

"Her abdomen full of blood that will nourish her eggs, a female Anophelesmosquito takes to the air. Her next landing may be a dangerous one—for the human who receives her bite. The female Anopheles mosquito is the only insect capable of carrying the human malaria parasite."

"The invasion has begun. Microscopic magnification shows Plasmodium falciparum—the most virulent of the four malaria parasites that infect humans—destroying red blood cells in the liver. It digests a cell's hemoglobin, multiplies inside to the point of rupturing the cell, and rapidly spreads a new generation of infection."

"Washed garments hung to dry add splashes of color to weatherworn huts lining a river in Siem Reap, Cambodia. Poverty and weather conditions compound the problem of malaria. Outside of Africa, the majority of recorded cases of malaria are concentrated here and in eight other countries in Asia and South America."

"A sample of blood seems to captivate young locals at a malaria testing center in Iquitos, Peru. The first widely known remedy—from the bark of the cinchona tree—was discovered in the region in the early 1600s. The medicine, which became known as quinine, was so promising that malaria-ravaged Europe mounted expeditions to acquire the plant. Today, scientists search for more ways to fight the disease—including the development of a vaccine—as the parasite becomes resistant to the most common course of drugs."

"Caught in a wrenching cycle of shivering cold, high fevers, and profuse sweats, ecologist Michael Fay struggles through yet another attack of malaria at the Bomassa camp in Congo. Taking regular doses of antimalarial drugs can have long-term side effects, such as hearing loss and liver and kidney damage. So Fay, who has worked in Africa for decades, tends to wait until he feels achy and queasy before medicating himself. It's a risky approach that has twice come close to killing him."

"Contained panic shrouds the face of a mother whose child is suffering from malaria in Niger. Younger children are at higher risk of dying; their bodies have not developed enough immunity to fight the disease, which can infect their brains and kill them. Each day malaria claims the lives of about 3,000 children in Africa—one every 30 seconds. Researchers predict that in 2007, malaria will strike up to a half billion people worldwide. About a million—most under five years old and living in Africa—will die."